Welcome To The Mutant Age
by JemmaLynn13
Summary: When Clarice is shot she becomes trapped in her portal. As thoughts of John flit through her mind she fights to get free. What battles await her if she does? And will she ever find her love ones again? Only time will tell. Also I suck at writing these summaries sorry lol.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey there welcome to my first The Gifted fanfic. Just as a quick warning there is some talk of wounds and blood and violence in this chapter so if you are sensitive to those topics please do be careful when reading, I don't want to accidentally trigger someone. Naturally I do not own any of the characters they belong to the Xmen comic writers and Fox's The Gifted. There are also spoilers particularly for the first 2 seasons of The gifted right up to ep 14. This chapter is told entirely from Clarice's POV just to avoid any confusion. Anyway I hope you all enjoy. :)**

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**Chapter 1**

Pain. It was throbbing through her whole body. Unbearable. Oh God. Please make it stop. Let it end. The purple energy of her portal was swirling all around her; spinning like some kind of vortex. Faster and faster. She felt sick and slammed her eyes shut again. John's face floated to the forefront of her mind. He was smiling that perfect smile, his eyes bright with love. Clarice tried to cling to that image. But then it shifted and suddenly his face was a picture of horror. His eyes turned wide and he had speckles of blood on his face. Wait was that her blood? She remembered the impact of the bullets and the pain rushed through her again. Her head felt so foggy. John was reaching out to her and she tried to reach back. But he was no longer there. There was nothing in front of her but the swirling walls of the portal she was trapped in.

She could feel her blood seeping from her wounds, soaking into her clothes. She could hear the sizzling sound it made as it dripped down and made contact with the energy from the portal. She was dying. No she couldn't die. She didn't want to die. She wanted to see John again. She brushed away the tears and with a new determination she focused on the portal. She tried desperately to get some sense of where she was, where she was going. She reached out and tried pushing and pulling the portal apart, trying to find some way out. But the vortex was spinning too fast and she couldn't get a grip on the energy, on the stuff. Her efforts were futile and all she had succeeded in doing was making her wounds bleed more. She could feel the blood running out of her faster now. Her clothes felt wet and sticky against her skin. She could feel panic and fear rising in her chest, mingling with the intense pain.

Maybe if I just hold my breath it'll stop hurting. She took a deep breath and then held it within her just in case it may be her last. Instantaneously everything seemed to stop. The portal seemed to have paused mid spin. The air was trapped in her lungs. The blood had stopped flowing from the bullet holes in her body. Her heart was still in her chest. The pain faded away. She felt weird like she was suspended in a place between heartbeats. Was this what it felt like to die?

John's voice came to her unbidden. _Think about what you love now_. His voice sounded so clear as if he were right there with her. But she knew she was alone. Please, she thought to herself, please let me get out of this, let me survive this and return to him.

A bright purple light flashed. Once. Twice. Three times. Then everything went ten speed. Wind whipped her hair about her face as the portal began to spin again. Faster than it had before. Faster. Faster. Round and round. Then she saw it, a little crack. With all her remaining strength she reached out with both hands. Ripped. Pulled. Tore at the wall of the portal until there was one more blinding flash of light and she fell. Hit hard ground. Murky darkness was all around her. Pain. It hit her again like a freight train. She struggled to breath. She could hear voices all about her. Shocked gasps and shouts. People were running about calling to each other. Where was she?

All of sudden she felt like she was being lifted into the air, cradled. Then she felt something cool beneath her. She couldn't make anything out. There was an impenetrable fog around her. Shadows on the corners of her vision and muffled voices. The only thing she could focus on was the breathtaking pain that was rippling through her body. She couldn't even tell where it was coming from anymore.

She felt a tugging and then she was on her side. Then she felt pressure against her back. Someone was calling to her. Asking her questions but she couldn't figure out what they were saying. It seemed like they were fading further away. She felt something warm around her hand and she was suddenly reminded of warm glowing lights and a friendly smile. A tingling sensation started to prickle around one of the bullet wounds. The sensation intensified then it started to sting. Clarice had to grit her teeth in an attempt not to groan. It felt like hot needles were being stabbed into her back. Just when she thought she could take no more it abruptly stopped. After a short reprieve she felt the sensation again at another of her wounds. She had no idea how much time had passed she was only aware of the sensations within her body, of the lurking shadows and the soft calming voices that where whispering reassurances to her. Slowly she let her eyes close and finally she slipped into unconsciousness.

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The voices are what she became aware of first. They were hushed but close by. She was also aware of movement nearby. She seemed to be laying on a hard surface, a table maybe? There was a thin blanket over her. Yet despite the chilly air and the thinness of the material covering her Clarice felt feverish. In fact she felt like she was on fire and her skin was clammy. She wasn't in as much pain as she was before but there was still a dull ache pulsing in her back. Slowly she blinked and opened her eyes. The space she was in was dimly lit, the only light came from a few flickering candles on a nearby table. She appeared to be underground. Was she back in the sewers? Did she dream it all? The pain in her back said otherwise. Turning her head gently she spotted two figures were standing close by with their backs turned to her. She couldn't make out their faces due to the low light. She tried to call out to them but all she managed was a quiet moan. Still it was enough to get their attention. Their hushed voices broke off and they moved towards her. As they stepped into the light Clarice was met with a familiar face.

"Glow." Clarice smiled at the young woman. "Your looking better." Her throat felt scratchy but still she was glad to see her friend. Glow crouched down next to her and took her hand. With the other she sent up some orbs to light the area.

"Hey how are you feeling?" Glow asked gently.

"I've been better." Clarice quipped with a small smile. Glow grinned back.

"This is Anna-Marie." Glow gestured to the woman just behind her. She had a nice smile and welcoming eyes. Her skin was pebbled and seemed to have a slight blueish/ grey tint to it. She had glowing amber eyes with white pupils and her hair was long and auburn. Her hair is the same colour as Dreamer's Clarice thought sadly. "She's a healer." Glow continued to explain. "She patched you up."

"Hello Clarice, it's nice to meet you." Anna-Marie smiled at her. "Clarice do you remember what happened to you?" She asked gently.

Clarice took a moment and tried to process her thoughts. She remembered Mason telling them about the intruders in the tunnels, and then calling Marcos. She remembered portalling people out and seeing John. She remembered watching those who stay behind to fight get massacred. And she remembered getting shot. She remembered the pain. She sighed and looked back up at the two woman watching her intensely. She didn't want to be the one to tell them the bad news but she guessed she was going to have to. "The Purifiers attacked us in the tunnels. We tried to fight them off but they overwhelmed us. I managed to get some people out but those who fought back were all butchered. Only Erg and I survived. I was shot as we went through the last portal. I must of subconsciously portalled myself here." As she finished her explanation she caught the two woman exchanging a strange look.

When Anna-Marie caught Clarice's eye she put on a forced smile. "Well it's lucky that you did. Your wounds would have killed you if you had landed anywhere else. One of the bullets nicked your heart. Luckily I was able to use my abilities to heal you enough that you'll live. You do need to rest though. I can't heal completely so your body still has some recovering to do."

Clarice nodded in understanding as Glow gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Ok Doc" She joked, "I'll make sure I get the rest I need, but I need to check in with John and the others first. Let them know where I am and that I'm safe." There was that look again. They were both looking at her strangely, it seemed like half in disbelieve and half sadness. Something wasn't right here.

It was Glow that eventually answered her. "Well don't worry about that just yet, it's late. How about you focus on getting some sleep and in the morning we'll figure it all out." Her voice was a little shaky and Clarice could only look at her in confusion.

"No, Glow you don't understand. John saw me get shot. I have to talk to him now!" Clarice was vaguely aware of a crowd gathering some distance away. She saw Anna-Marie make a shooing gesture. But before they all completely dispersed she caught a glimpse of a girl that looked just like Faith. But it couldn't be, Clarice just left Faith in DC with Erg and besides this girl was taller and looked a little older.

Her attention was drawn back to Glow as she moved her hand to pat her shoulder gently. "Look it's ok Clarice, just calm down. Like I said it's late. John is probably asleep there's no harm in just waiting a few hours and calling him then." Glow tried to placate.

"Oh come on Glow! Of course he's not asleep! He's probably worried sick, you don't know how John gets. Please I have to speak to him it's important!" Clarice could feel an irrational panic growing inside of her. Something was very wrong, she could feel it. When she looked back at Glow she was shocked to see tears in her eyes and a look of utter despair on her face. "What's going on Glow? What aren't you telling me?" She begged.

Glow looked back at Anna-Marie again and that same look crossed between them. Anna-Marie sadly shook her head and looked away from Clarice. For some reason she seemed unable to meet Clarice's questioning eyes. When Glow looked back to her the tears were streaming steadily down her cheeks. Clarice felt fear creep into her chest and tighten its grip around her heart. Had something happened while she was out? How many hours had passed since she fell into her portal? She had no way to tell.

As she watched her Glow took a few gulping breaths and was clearly attempting to compose herself. "Clarice, the Morlock Massacre that you're talking about. The one where the Purifiers hit the DC tunnels. Well that happened over two years ago." Glow rushed out quickly. Clarice felt like someone had chucked a bucket of ice water over her. She looked between the both of them waiting for one them to laugh and yell 'Ha jokes!'. But they didn't. They just stared at her with ghosts in their eyes. Clarice tried to process it all but none of it made sense.

"Wait what are you talking about? I just came from DC I mean I had just been shot you saw the bullet holes!" Clarice replied desperately, there had to be some mistake.

"Clarice I'm telling you the truth, it was two years ago." Glow insisted.

"But how can that be. Last time I checked time travel wasn't part of my skill set." Clarice answered sarcastically.

"Well it looks like you developed a new skill set." Anna-Marie interjected. "Because this is real you fell into a portal and then came out the other end two years later." She said it so matter of factly, like that kinda thing happened all the time. But everyone knew there was nothing ordinary about this.

"Clarice you were shot, that must've made your portal unstable, caused it to I don't know malfunction or something." Glow reasoned. "But we're telling you the truth." She cupped Clarice's cheeks and met her eyes with an intense look, those tears were back in her eyes again. "Clarice, we thought you were dead. I mean John tried to find you but when he couldn't we all assumed it was because you were gone. Erg held a memorial ceremony for you and everything. I still can't believe you're actually here." Her voice cracked at the end and she fell forward and wrapped Clarice in a tight embrace. Clarice felt a tight lump form in her throat. Whatever had happened this was clearly very real for Glow there's no way she was faking that emotion. Clarice held her tightly for a moment before pulling back gently.

"Ok lets say for a moment that I believe all this time travel stuff." Clarice shrugged. "What have I missed?" And once again that shared look passed between the two women almost like they were trying to decide how to tell her something bad. "Please." Clarice pleaded she needed answers.

"Well the thing is the worlds a very different place than what you'll remember." Glow answered after a beat.

"Why." Clarice asked.

"Because the Inner Circle. Well they won." Glow said as clinically as she could but Clarice still picked up on the slight wobble in her voice.

"What does that mean? What happened? What did they do?"

This time it was Anna-Marie who answered. "It was a terrorist attack. They pretty much blew up the White House and The Pentagon. They overthrew the government and then she took control for herself. Thousands of people died. Now all humans live in subjugation and are used as slaves. More and more people are dying by the day. She rules with an iron fist and anyone who disobeys or gets on her bad side dies."

Clarice was horrified. Thousands of people were dead and thousands more were suffering everyday. What kind of world had she fallen into. She shook her head to clear her busy thoughts. "Well isn't anyone fighting back?"

Glow let out a harsh laugh and looked her incredulously. "And who exactly do you think is going to fight back?"

"The Mutant Underground! Or the Morlocks!? They were trying to stop them right? Are you telling me they just gave up?!"

Glow just shook her head. "One of the first things she did when she got into power was hunt down the remaining members. Some of them she had publicly killed as a warning to others who might resist her. Some people just disappeared. But one by one she defeats us all. Those few of us who are left are forced to hide under the radar and hope she never finds us. She even wiped out The Purifiers. There is no one left to fight back."

The fear and panic within Clarice began to increase rising up her chest and throat, smothering her. "But what about John and the others, Marcos? Lorna? The Struckers?" Clarice inquired the feeling of doom taking over her as Glow looked at her with such grief in her eyes.

Shaking her head she delivered the blow. "Nobody has seen them since a few weeks after the attack. Most likely they're dead. All I know is that one day they were there the next they were gone."

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**Dun Dun Daaa... oh oh what's happened to John and the others? Are they still out there? Are they all Ok? And what's going to happen to Clarice now how's she going to cope in this brave new world? Well I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find all that out. In the meantime I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave reviews I love hearing my readers thoughts and theories and until next time. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Not gonna lie this is a little bit of a filler chapter but it's important for setting things up for whats to come. But I hope you still enjoy it.**

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**Chapter 2**

Clarice was reeling, her mind trying to process everything she had just been told. She could feel exhaustion seeping into her bones, all she wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. It had been a long 24 hours, hell it had been a long _year_. But as much as she wanted to sleep she wanted, no needed to know more. She needed to know what had happened to the ones she loved, her family.

"What does that mean? Don't you know where they are? When was the last time you spoke to them?" She begged Glow for answers.

"I'm sorry Clarice but we just don't know much. Last time we spoke to them was right after The Morlock Massacre. They kept the people you got out at the junkyard for a few days and then Marcos contacted us. He asked us if we would take in the survivors. It was going to take some time to get everyone here. Marcos and The Struckers did alot of driving back and forth. We had got about half of them up here when the shit hit the fan. After the attack we tried reaching out and getting a hold of someone but we were just met with complete radio silence. So Erg went back to see if he could make contact with any of them. We got one last message from him 3 weeks later saying he'd found John and the others and that they were planning some big mission and to wait for him to contact us again. He never did."

Oh god she felt sick, worry and dread had taken a hold of her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat before asking. "Wait so Erg saw John and the others _after_ the attack. So they survived that? But then what happened? What was this big mission Erg was talking about?"

This time it was Anna-Marie that answered her. "We don't know. Erg never went into details, he just told us to wait. And well we've been waiting ever since. Most of what we know are snippets of gossip that were overheard during supply runs topside."

Suddenly Clarice felt dizzy, she tried to swallow down the bile rising in her throat and then her world tilted. Anna-Marie caught her and sat her on the edge of the table. "Hey there now. Careful you've been through alot. Look how about we get you settled in your own space. You can get cleaned up and have a rest." Clarice nodded reluctantly and let Anna-Marie guide her down the tunnels. She brought her to a large cavern very similar to the one she lived in with the Morlocks in DC. In the corner was a metal frame set up with curtains hanging down. It made a kind of room. Glow held back the curtain for her as Anna-Marie guided her inside.

Inside there was a low bed with a duvet and two pillows. In the corner there was a large ceramic bowl for washing and above it someone had hung a mirror on the wall. As she approached the bed she saw that there was a child's drawing laid on it. Picking it up she found it was a picture of her. She had a fierce look on her face and her hair was spread out around her face like a lion's mane. She was holding open a portal while stick figures passed through it. Clarice suddenly felt choked up as she saw the writing underneath. In a child's untidy scrawl the word's 'You're My Hero' were written.

Glow gave her a wide smile. "Faith drew that for you. Actually she and some of the others from the DC tunnels that you saved help get this space set up for you."

Looking around the room more closely she spotted other little things. Someone had put some flowers in a vase on a night stand. Of course they would die soon with no light down here but Clarice was still touched by the gesture. There was a beaded bracelet, letters and cards that people had written to her. A child had left their teddy bear for her too; The note attached to the ribbon around its neck read 'So you don't get too lonely.'

Anna-Marie wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You know, to many people here you're a hero, there are so many of them that would have died in those tunnels if hadn't been for you. These..." She gestured around the room at all the tokens that had been left. "This is their way of showing you their gratitude. You should be proud of yourself Clarice. Now get some rest. There's some warm water in the bowl for you to get cleaned up a bit and there are some clean clothes in that dresser there." With one last parting smile Glow and Anna-Marie left her alone.

Clarice brushed away the tears and moved over to the table with the bowl and mirror. She stripped off her blood stained clothes and as she cleaned away the remains of the dried blood she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Pausing she lent closer and there under her other eye she saw that she had a new marking. It was the same shape and size as the other one. She softly brushed a finger along with it. Suddenly she was lost in a memory. She closed her eyes and remembered how John had once brushed his thumb across her markings. _God, you are so beautiful._ A sob was wrenched from her body; then another. She moved to the bed and curled up in a ball, clinging to the teddy bear that had been left for her, she tried with all her strength to ignore the dark void in her chest. She knew that it was a void that could only be filled by being with John again. All she could do for now was curl up tighter and pray that was enough to hold all the broken pieces of herself together. But it wasn't so instead she let herself crumble.

Clarice spent the next three days getting acquainted with her new surroundings and the people who lived there. There were quite a few familiar faces and yet it was also surreal. For them it had been two years since they had last seen her. Yet for her it had been no time at all. She had also spent the last three days running everything she had been told through her head. It was driving her crazy wondering where John was, whether he was safe. Which was why she was currently rushing down the tunnels to the meeting/ office room where Glow and Anna-Marie were. She had quickly learnt that in the absence of Erg they had become the defacto leaders here. As she walked her thoughts continued to go round in circles. What could the plan have been? Did it go wrong? Was that why nobody had contacted them? Were her friends dead? Was John? She couldn't bear to think of the possibility. He had to be safe, please let him be safe. Please let all of them be safe. Then she made up her mind, she'd never be able to live in peace unless she knew for sure. She could feel Glow's and Anna-Marie's eyes on her as she entered the room. She looked the two women right in the eye. "I'm going back." She told them with steely determination.

They both just looked at her like she was crazy. It was a few long minutes before Glow found her voice again. "Are you crazy?!" Clarice just shook her head and gave her a stubborn look. Glow sighed "Clarice you won't be able to get back into DC."

"Yes I will." Clarice answered simply. She could see Anna-Marie shaking her head with an incredulous look on her face.

"No Clarice, I don't think you understand. _Nobody_ has been able to get _in_ or _out_ of DC since The Inner Circle took over. Trust me we've tried getting people in there. There's some kind of barrier; a wall around it. It looks like its made of obsidian or something. But whatever its made of there's something weird about it. Abilities don't seem to work against it. It's like it drains all of your energy or something. And on top of that the wall is guarded 24/7, there's no way you'll get in." Glow pleaded with her.

But Clarice just shrugged at her. "I'll portal past the wall. I lived in that city for 6 months. I know exactly where to portal to. I'll go at night."

This time it was Anna-Marie that tried reasoning with her. "Clarice you're not listening to us. You won't be able to portal past the wall, it's too strong. It'll just drain your energy and it'll alert the guards that you're there."

"No I'm strong enough." She told them confidently. Again they both just looked at her like she had grown a second head. "I don't know how to explain it. But ever since I came out of the portal I've felt different."

"Different how exactly?" Anna-Marie asked curiously.

"I don't know it's like...it's like." Clarice tried to find the right words to describe the feeling that had been building inside of her over the last few days. "I feel unstoppable." They were both still staring at her uncertainly. She sighed. "Look, I'm doing this and you can't stop me. I'm sorry guys, but I have to know what happened to my family." She told them hoping desperately that they'd understand. "So I guess I've come to say goodbye." She gave them both one last sad smile then turned away.

She was throwing things into a borrowed rucksack when they came barging in. Clarice stood upright and turned to face them both. "Look guys just give it up ok. I'm not going to change my mind."

"We know." Glow sighed.

"Which is why we're coming with you." Anna-Marie stated.

"You don't have to do that. It'll be dangerous."

"Oh we know!" Glow exclaimed. "But you're our friend and we can't in good conscience let you go alone so..." She shrugged.

"Besides you know nothing about this world, you'll stand a better chance with us." Anna-Marie insisted. "We have a safe house near the wall. We use it for surveillance on the wall."  
p"You do surveillance on the wall, I thought nobody was fighting back."

p"We're not, but we'd be stupid not to keep an eye on things. If the Inner Circle makes any moves to expand their territory outside of DC then it's better that we know." Glow explained. Clarice nodded in agreement, they weren't wrong about that./p

"Well ok then. You guys ready?" Clarice asked them. They both nodded. Reaching out she gripped the energies and pulled them apart. She watched as Glow then Anna-Marie passed through, then followed.

They stayed at the safe house for a day. It was small but practical and the couple who owned it were very friendly. It was pretty obvious though that they thought the three of them were crazy. In fact Clarice wouldn't be surprised if they were already planning their funerals. She got the sense that Anna-Marie and Glow were both starting to have some second thoughts. As the day wore on they got more and more agitated. Maybe she was crazy but Clarice didn't care. When it came time for them to cross the wall she didn't feel nervous. Though she probably should. Anna-Marie and Glow looked terrified. But all Clarice could focus on was that John could be on the other side of that wall. And nothing was going to stop her from getting to him.

It was pitch black when they left the safe house. They were all dressed in black and had supplies in rucksack's on their backs. They moved quickly and silently through the night. Clarice almost gasped out loud when she saw the wall. It stretched right up into the night sky. Dark and foreboding; casting a shadow over everything below it.

Yet there was something kind of beautiful about it. The smooth flat surface of it was mirrored and Clarice could see the stars' reflections sparkling off it. Like the wall had trapped them within it. She couldn't describe the feeling it awoke in her. It was like it was calling to her, drawing her in, she felt hypnotized. At the same time it terrified her to the point where she could barely think straight.

"Yeah I know, mesmerizing isn't it." Glow whispered to her. Clarice could only nod blankly, her gaze transfixed on the wall.

"Try not to stare at it too long." Anna-Marie suggested. Clarice shook her head and gained back her focus. She turned to look at her companions. Silently asking them if they were still good. They both hesitated and Clarice could see the uncertainty in their eyes. But eventually they both nodded back. Clarice pulled up the image of where she wanted to go in her mind and then pulled open a portal.

The instant she started using her ability she felt something tug at her. As if something had reached out and taken hold of her very life force and was drawing it out of her. Her portal fluttered and shook. She could feel her energy ebbing away, at the same time it felt like there was something pushing on her chest trying to crush her.

She could feel herself getting weaker, she felt like she was slipping under water. She was being dragged down into the never ending nothingness. She saw her portal become unstable and begin to close. No, no she thought fiercely. She would not let this beat her. She reached down within herself. Harnessed the last of her strength, tapping into that feeling of undulating power that had existed inside her from the moment she fell out of that portal. As she connected with it she felt it rising, growing, stronger and stronger. Then her portal exploded open again.

Clarice followed her friends through the portal stepping out into a gloomy corridor. She'd done it, she thought with glee. They were passed the wall, they were inside and she was one step closer to finding John.

**Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound, Washington DC**

Her heeled boots clicked as she made her way hastily down the corridor. In the distance the wail of alarm sirens could be heard cutting their way through the still night. She noticed the curious and worried expressions of those that she passed. Many of them stepped out of her way as she approached. She didn't blame them for their alarm, she was the definition of an ice queen. Cool and collected at all times. So it was rare that anyone ever saw her flustered. And right now she was more than just flustered.

She reached the door at the end and knocked on it loudly and urgently.

"Come in!" His voice called from inside. He was sitting at the end of a long table. There were maps and other surveillance materials spread out across the table. He looked up and laid down the file he was holding as she entered. Thankfully he was alone. She closed the door behind her and approached him.

"Problem?" He asked her wearily. He looked tired but then he always looked tired these days.

"Possibly." She answered. He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her. "Something's happened. To be honest I can scarcely believe it."

She saw him sit up straighter in his seat and gesture for her to continue. "Someone got past the wall."

"What?! I thought that was impossible?" He exclaimed clearly shocked.

She nodded her head. "Yeah so did I. But our sensors picked up a disturbance in the dimensional energies. Then the sirens were triggered. There's a definite breach. The guards are out there looking for the intruder now."

She studied him as he processed the information trying to make out his facial expression. He looked up at her. "Whoever did this has to be one hell of a powerful mutant. Nobody has ever broken through the wall's defenses before." He stated. She nodded her head in agreement. "You said the guards are out looking for them."

"As we speak." She confirmed.

He locked eyes with her. "Find them." He commanded excitement in his eyes for the first time in a long while. "Find them and bring them to me."

She gave him a slow smile. "Consider it done." She gave him a nod and then went to work. She would not fail at this. A mutant as powerful as this meant endless possibilities. They could be a real gamechanger.

The Community of Mercy Clinic

Clarice could hear sirens wailing in the background. There was alot of movement outside of the building. Booted feet marching and orders being shouted. "We need to stay low and you need to follow me." She whispered to her companions. She moved down the hall. Needles and broken glass crunched under their feet as the made their way through the building.

"Where are we?" Anna-Marie asked quietly.

"It's a clinic." Clarice answered. "A friend of mine used to work here."

"Clarice why have you brought us here? We need to find a place to hide. You hear those sirens right. They know we're here." Glow's voice was shaking with fear.

"Relax, just trust me ok." Clarice tried to calm her as her hand searched for the trigger that opened the door to the hidden room. "Got it, quick inside." She whispered to the others.

Once inside she flicked on the light and turned to the others with a grin feeling elated. But neither of them were smiling, actually they looked petrified. She could see Glow's breathing getting more and more rapid. She's having a panic attack Clarice realized. "Glow it's ok calm down we did it." She tried soothe her. "We're ok now."

"We're OK NOW!" Glow exclaimed rather loudly as Anna-Marie shushed her. "Are you deluded?! You've set off every siren, every guard this place has is now out looking for us! And we're what? Hiding in a clinic?"

"Glow relax, just breathe. Look this room is hidden the only ones who knew it was here were the Mutant Underground. They're not going to find us. I think we just need to lie low for a day or two and once the search cools off we can start looking for John and the others." She reasoned with them. But Glow was too worked up, too scared to be reasoned with.

"No they're going to find us. What do you think she's going to do to us when she finds us huh? Did you think about that Clarice?"

"Ok Glow I know you're scared ok but you need to trust me. Look I'm not worried about Reeva, in fact I am so over Reeva, I'm going to find a way to stop her if it's the last thing I do." She tried to sound as confident as she could. Truth was she was scared. She was scared they were going to be found and yes she was scared of Reeva a little too. But mostly what she felt for Reeva was anger and hate.

When she looked up at them both they were looking at her in both horror and shock.

"Oh my god." Anna-Marie's voice trembled. "You've got no idea what you've gotten us into. I mean of course you don't how could you?"

Clarice was getting more confused by the moment. She shook her head. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

Glow scoffed. "How are we suppose to trust you Clarice when it's pretty damn obvious that you're in way over your head?"

"Clarice." Anna-Marie sighed. "Reeva isn't the leader of the Inner Circle. She's dead. Someone much more powerful is. Someone pure evil."

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**Ok guys what did you think? Any ideas on what you think is going on? Who do you think is the leader of the Inner Circle now? Rest assured I have plenty more surprises to come. So I will try to post the next chapter asap so until next time my friends.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Ok I'm back. So this chapter is set up a little differently as we have some new character pov's we've also got some reveals in here. Anyway as always I don't own anything and I hope you enjoy it. **

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**Chapter 3**

**The Community of Mercy Clinic**

It took her the best part of two hours but eventually she was able with some help from Anna-Marie to calm Glow down. The three of them were all currently sitting together eating a less than appetizing meal of cold baked beans from cans. There was a tense silence in the air, thick and heavy, weighing down on them all.

"Ok." Clarice started once everyone was finished. "One of you needs to explain. If Reeva isn't in charge then who is?"

Clarice looked between the two of them. Glow just looked away and stared stubbornly at the wall instead, clearly still upset with Clarice. So instead Clarice stared Anna-Marie down. After a moment she sighed and then answered.

"Look its like we said before we don't know much, not about the attack or what happened after. What I can tell you is this. Right after we lost contact with Erg the wall appeared around DC and it became very obvious very quickly that it was impenetrable. We were all just left to wonder what the hell had happened. Then she released a news alert nationwide."

"She?" Clarice asked curiously.

"Her name is Selene. Other than that we don't know much about her. In the news alert she announced that she had taken DC under her control and that she was now its sole ruler. She also said that Reeva was dead and that if we didn't obey her and kneel to her we would end the same way. Then she asked if anyone wanted to see just how Reeva met her end, she bought out a man and...and..." Anna-Marie seemed unable to finish the sentence she just shook her head, a terrified look in her eyes.

"She killed him?" Clarice asked trying to sound as calm as possible. Anna-Marie simply nodded her head. There was obviously more to the story, something horrific, so bad it was unspeakable but Clarice knew now wasn't the time to get into it, Anna-Marie and Glow were scared enough as it was.

"Clarice you have to understand something. We might not know much about Selene but this we do know. She's not the kind of woman to back down. If she wants something nothing will stop her from getting it. She has no line that she will not cross. She's not going to call off this search. Ever. And we can't stay here forever sooner or later we're going to run out of supplies. Maybe we should just hand ourselves in, maybe she'll be merciful if we don't draw out the search?" Anna-Marie tried to reason.

Clarice shook her head. "No that won't work. I might not know much about your world or Selene but one thing I do know is that any person that would go to these lengths to gain control and who would kill a man during a live broadcast isn't going to show us mercy. Our only option is to try and find a way to let John and the others know we're here and then wait for him to find us."

"But how are we going to do that? I'm sorry Clarice but we don't even know if John and the rest of the Mutant Underground are even still alive. Let alone in a position to find us." Glow finally broke her silence.

"That may be true, but we have to have faith that they are." Clarice answered.

"Why? Why should we have faith?" Glow challenged with a shrug.

"Because right now it's all we have." Clarice looked them both in the eye. "Faith and each other. We have to stick together now and have each others backs. Right?" After a moment of silence Glow and Anna-Marie finally nodded. Clarice smiled at them both in gratitude. "Come on we should get some rest while we can?" With that the three of them curled up together in a circle on the floor. None of them really slept, if it wasn't the sirens keeping them awake then it was the sound of boots and voices as they passed near the building. At one point Clarice was fairly sure that someone had come into the Clinic, she could hear them throwing furniture about as they searched every nook and cranny. Luckily they never found the hidden room where they were all huddled together. It was going to be a long few days.

**Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound. 2 Days Later**

She kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. She was scanning every image closely looking for anything at all that seemed suspicious. It had been two days since the breach of the wall and there had been no sign of the intruder anywhere. The pressure was mounting as was the tension. Her team were getting tired and the excitement at the idea of a powerful mutant turning up had began to wear off. They had to find this mutant.

Letting out a huff of impatience at again coming up with nothing, she rubbed her eyes and then turned to the room. "Ok listen up everyone. I know you're tired. We've all been working long hours and I know its disappointing that we haven't found anything yet. But the intruder is out there somewhere. This city has cameras pretty much everywhere. There are only so many places they can hide. So dig deep and stay focused. Report anything you find to me no matter how small it may seem." There were affirming nods about and what seemed to be a renewed burst of energy in the room as the team got back to work. All she could do was pray they got something and soon.

"Ma'am." She turned to the guard behind her nodding for him to continue. "He wants to see you."

"Ok, keep an eye on things her for me please." Her colleague nodded to say he understood and she turned and left the room. It didn't take her long to reach his office.

"Well?" He asked as soon as she entered.

"We're still looking, it's...it's just taking some time. There's alot of footage to get through. We'll find them I promise." She informed him with as much confidence as she could muster.

He sat silently for several moments, his brow furrowed. Before he nodded to himself and looked back up at her. "Ok, keep looking , there's only so many places they could be. And keep me updated. I don't need to tell you how important this is. We can't fail."

"I know you can trust me with this. I won't let you down that I promise." She assured him fiercely.

He gave her the tiniest ghost of a smile, a rare thing from him. "Oh I know." She gave him a smile back and then suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door. "Come in" He called. One of the men from her team came bursting in, out of breath and with an urgent but satisfied expression on his face.

"Sir, Ma'am I think we might have gotten something."

The Community of Mercy Clinic

Clarice was dismayed at how quickly they had run out of food. They needed more supplies and soon or they wouldn't have to worry about getting caught, they'd starve to death first. "Ok." She got the attention of her two friends. "There is a store right across the street. It's small but they keep some of their stock in a room in the back. It has an entrance that backs onto the same alley that this Clinic does. It's not far, actually you can see the door from the main hall. I say now that it's dark we sneak over there and grab a few bits to keep us going."

"I don't know Clarice, it's risky leaving this room let alone the building." Glow pointed out.

"But if we do nothing we'll starve." Anna-Marie countered. "We have to do something."

"Ok" Glow agreed reluctantly. "But still it's going to look real suspicious if all three of us are spotted skulking around an alley way in the dead of night."

"Which is why only one of us should go." Clarice answered. They both looked at her worriedly.

"Split up? I don't know if I like the idea of that." Glow wrung her hands anxiously.

"No Clarice is right. One person is much less likely to be spotted than a small group." Anna-Marie remarked.

"Ok well then I'll go." Glow suggested. But Clarice quickly shook her head.

"Uh-Uh I'm the one that got us into this mess. I'm the one that's going to go."

Before Glow had the chance to argue back Anna-Marie interjected. "Let's get real here. I'm the one that needs to go." As Clarice and Glow went to protest Anna-Marie held up a hand to silence them. "It has to be. Think about, the two of you used to live in the city. There's a chance you might get recognized by someone. Out of the three of us I'm the one whose going to look the most like just another face in the crowd. I have a better chance of blending in." Clarice tried to think of some argument she could use against but she had nothing. Truth was she made sense. Seeing the look of resignation on their faces Anna-Marie nodded. "Ok its settled. Show me where this door is."

Clarice carefully lead the way out of the secret room and to the main hall of the clinic. She lead them to the back wall and pointed through the window. "That door there. That will lead you into their stock room. The locks real crappy so it shouldn't be too hard to pick. Do you know how to pick a lock?" Clarice looked over at Anna-Marie. She nodded her head in affirmation.

"Is it alarmed?" Glow asked. Clarice shook her head.

"It shouldn't be it's just a small family run business, they don't really have the budget for an alarm system." Noticing their uncomfortable looks Clarice sighed. "Yeah I know guys I don't feel great about stealing from a nice family who are barely staying above the bottom line either. But what other choice do we have, trying any of the bigger warehouses would be too risky." They both half nodded and half shook their heads. She knew exactly how conflicted they were feeling she was feeling it too.

"Well there's no time like the present." Anna-Marie stated. "I'll see you guys soon. You should probably get back to the hideout."

"No" Clarice answered. "We'll stay and play look out. At the very least we might be able to create a distraction if somebody looks like their getting to close to finding you." Anna-Marie nodded then with a quick hug to them both she crept out the double doors and into the night. They watched as she made her way to the store keeping closely to the shadows. Then after a moment of fiddling with the lock she slipped through the door and disappeared from their sight.

**Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound**

Entering the surveillance room they saw that it was a buzz with activity. "What have we got?" She asked as they briskly moved towards one of the screens.

"There." One of her men, Thomas, pointed at a woman on the screen. She was in an alley way behind the Community of Mercy Clinic. She appeared to be carrying something in her arms and she had a rucksack on her back.

"A woman in an alley, what's suspicious about that?" She asked. "She's probably just heading home after shopping." Thomas shook his head.

"I don't think so Ma'am. About 5 minutes ago we caught her on cctv breaking into that shop. Looks like she was stealing food and water."

She felt a spark of excitement go through her looking over she saw the same expression on her leader's face too. "Makes sense, if she's the fugitive then she's been hiding out for a couple of days now. She's probably run out of supplies, she'd have no other choice but to steal." He explained. "Do we have people in the area?" He asked.

Thomas grinned and nodded his head. Speaking into a headpiece he sent the order. "All units respond, Location is the alley behind the Mercy Clinic. Target is female, approx 5ft 5. Red hair, wearing dark clothing and carrying a black rucksack." The anticipation hung in the air as they all stared transfixed at the events playing out on the screen. This was it they had finally got them.

**Anna-Marie's POV**

She moved much slower on the way back. She was weighed down by the bottles of water she was carrying in her arms and being very careful not to make the cans in her rucksack clang together too much. She was also trying to stick to the shadows at the base of the walls as much as she could. Still she was nearly there. She could see Clarice and Glow keeping watch over her from the clinic window.

Then just when she thought she was going to make it armed men stormed into the alley. The were wearing black combat pants and flak jackets. Their faces were covered with masks and they were carrying assault rivals. Before she could even let out a scream they had grabbed hold of her and as they threw a dark sack over her head she took one last quick glance at the window. Thankfully her friends were no longer in sight.

She was bundled into the back of a van, her heart racing, she felt pain shoot up her knees and her shoulder as she hit the hard surface. She tried to keep track of how many turns they took and how long the journey took but the hood on her head made her feel so disoriented. So instead she tried really hard not to let panic creep in and take over.

She lost track of time but at some point the van came to a standstill and she was pulled out and dragged some distance before she was pushed down into a chair and her hands were cuffed to it.

As they pulled the hood from her head she squinted her eyes and tried to get some bearing of where she was. The room was gloomy and dimly lit. There were two armed men on either side of her and two more guarding the lone door. Other than the chair she was restrained to there was nothing else in the room.

A sudden clicking sound of heels against concrete caught her attention. Then a woman entered the room. She had a fair complexion and shoulder length blonde hair. Her eyes were a frosty blue. Anna-Marie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was in serious trouble and so were her friends. Gulping down a deep breath she straightened her back as much as possible. Trying to appear braver than she felt.

"I know who you are." She barked at the woman before she had the chance to speak.

"Oh?" The woman replied simply. Anna-Marie looked her defiantly in the eye.

"Yes, so which Frost sister are you? Esme, Phoebe or Sophie?"

Frost just smiled slowly and waved her hand. "It doesn't really matter." She slowly approached Anna-Marie's chair.

"I'm not going to tell you anything so you might as well just kill me." She lifted her chin stubbornly.

This only seemed to amuse Frost. "Calm down now. Besides we both know I don't need you to talk, I can just look into your mind. Besides I just have a few little questions. Like why you were stealing from a store. After all we live in a brave new world where all mutants are free, we want for nothing so what would you need to steal for?" Anna-Marie couldn't be sure but for a moment she thought she could hear a little bitterness in Frosts tone as she talked about the mutant homeland. "Unless of course you're the mutant that somehow managed to get past the wall."

Anna-Marie tried to keep her face and her thoughts as neutral as possible. "I don't know what you're talking about." She spat back.

"Ok then I guess we're doing this the hard way." Frost's eyes began to glow a neon blue. Shining brightly in the dimness of the room. Anna-Marie felt hypnotized by them like she couldn't look away. She could feel something probing at her mind, it was a strange sensation one she couldn't really explain. It didn't hurt but it didn't feel comfortable either. Gritting her teeth Anna-Marie tried desperately to fight her off. Images from her life flashed through her mind. Erg, the tunnels in Pittsburgh, childhood memories. She could feel Frost getting dangerously close to her friends. She pulled on the last of her strength and pushed with her mind.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She cried out feeling pressure build in her head before it suddenly broke and her mind was her own again. She saw Frost wincing and rubbing her temples.

Leaning down to look her dead in the eye Frost smiled. "That's ok I got enough for now." Patting her in the cheek she then turned and left the room. Leaving Anna-Marie to wonder if she had managed to keep her friends and their hiding spot out of her thoughts long enough.

**Frost's POV**

Her head felt like it was splitting open, there was no worse sensation than someone pushing her from their mind. Still she had got some useful information though she now had more questions than she did answers. Reaching the office she knocked on the door and entered when he called out.

He lent forward in his chair when he saw her. "Hey so what did you find out?" He asked eagerly.

"It's a good news/ bad news scenario I'm afraid." He looked at her questioningly. "She's not the mutant that got past the wall." She explained quickly.

"Are you sure?"

Nodding her head she continued. "I was able to get some information from her mind. She has healing abilities and it seems like she was one of the Morlocks."

"I was under the impression all the Morlocks that survived The Massacre had been rounded up."

"Well that's the interesting part she's not from the DC tunnels, she's from Pittsburgh."

"So she might not be the mutant who was able to beat the Wall's defenses but..."

"But she knows where that mutant is yes, I'm sure of it. Whoever they are she's trying really hard to protect them. She actually pushed me out of her mind."

"I need you to find out where and who this mutant is. What abilities they have that allowed them to get past the wall. Look into her mind again."

"Well I can try but I don't know how effective that will be, like I said she was able to push me out. Without my sisters I'm just not as strong." She tried to explain desperately a twinge of sadness sweeping through her as she thought of her sisters.

"I'm not looking for excuses Esme, I want results." After a moment of tense silence he sighed shaking his head. "I'm sorry to sound harsh, but Selene wants this mutant so we have to find them."

Esme nodded her head in understanding. "I'll keep try..." Alarms screeched throughout the compound cutting her off. Somebody had tripped one of their boundary alarms. Looking back at him she smiled. "Sounds like they might've come to us."

**Clarice's POV**

She was freaking out and so was Glow, actually Glow was near hyperventilating. Ok she just needed to think for a moment and figure out what to do next. Poor Anna-Marie, this was all Clarice's fault. She never should have let them come with her.

"Oh god, oh god, what are we going to do?" Glow repeated over and over again as she paced back and forth.

Clarice didn't have an answer for her. She just kept replaying the moment Anna-Marie got captured over and over in her head. She had been shocked into immobility if it hadn't been for Glow yanking her down to hide under the window sill they likely would have been caught too.

Suddenly Glow stopped her pacing and turned to stare at her. "We have to get her back."

Clarice just stared at her like she had gone mad. "How exactly to you think we can do that. We don't even know where they took her or even who they are?"

"You can make a portal there. Maybe if you just think about Anna-Marie it will just take you there." Glow answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Clarice sighed. "Glow you know that not how it works. I can't portal somewhere unless I can see where I'm going or if I've been there before."

"I know but you said yourself you feel different, stronger maybe you can do it now. Isn't it at least worth a try?" Glow pleaded.

Clarice thought about it for a few moments before making up her mind. Glow was right she had been feeling stronger, some unknown power had been released inside of her. Besides at this point they didn't exactly have much to lose. "Ok I'll try but this time I think we should stick together ok." Glow nodded her head. "Ok well here goes nothing."

She pulled the image of Anna-Marie into her mind. She tried to remember as many little details about her as she could. When she felt confident enough she reached out and tore the energies apart creating a portal. With a quick glance at Glow the two of them stepped through together.

The night air was chilling against her skin. She quickly looked around trying to figure out where they were but she had never seen this before. It looked like some kind of compound. They were just outside of the fence and as they slowly approached Clarice let out a little gasp.

"What? What is it?" Glow asked urgently.

Clarice pointed to the logo mounted on the front of the building. "I recognized the logo. It's for Trask Industries they were the ones who were responsible for the hound program. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she looked around again. "Ok this is serious these people are bad and will go to any lengths so stay close, we go in grab Anna-Marie and then get out." Glow gave her a quick thumbs up. Together they crept forward slowly. She couldn't see any break in the fence so their only option was to open another portal.

The moment they stepped out of the portal alarms blared. Looking down Clarice saw her foot was smack bang in to middle of red laser beam. They must have tripped the security system." Glow went pale white as armed guards flooded the lawn. They tackled them both to the ground. Cuffing their hands behind their backs. They were lifted back to their feet and just when they were putting on the black hood Clarice looked over to Glow and mouthed the words 'I'm So Sorry.' She looked back at me with terror and despair in her eyes but still she smiled back reassuringly. Her last thought was of how this was all her fault. Then Clarice's world went black.

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**Ok so from now on the plot's going to start moving a bit faster and you're going to start learning more about what has happened and who our main players are. Also as a little spoiler we also have some flashback chapters coming up soon too. Anyway let me know what you think and until next time. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Hey guys I finally finished this chapter and I'm actually really excited to share this one with you guys. This is the one that the last couple of chapters have been building towards so you can look forward to some more reveals and maybe a few more questions. There's also some lighter moments in this chapter not all doom and gloom. I actually made a plan for this chapter but it turned out nothing like it when I actually sat down and wrote it lol. But anyway I hope you all enjoy and as always let me know what you think I always appreciate all your comments.

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**Chapter 4**

**Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound**

Tick. Tick. Tick. He sat alone in his office waiting for confirmation that the mutant had been secured. He focused on the sound of the time passing with each tick of the clock. He could feel tiredness creeping in on him but he shook it away. Tick. Tick. Tick. He tried to focus on all the other sounds around him. The drumming of his fingers on the desk. The hum of the computer. The sound of his own heartbeat. But his attention still kept being pulled back to the sound of that damn clock.

Tick. Tick. Tick. This was taking too long he was growing more impatient or maybe it was anticipation. He found it more difficult to differentiate his feelings nowadays, that's on the rare occasion he felt anything at all. It had been this way ever since... No don't think about her. He shut the thought down. It was just too painful. Better to feel nothing. He sighed and looked back at the clock but not even a minute had passed. Tick. Tick. Tick

Then came the knock at the door. Deafening in the quiet of the room. Esme entered before he could even call out for her to come in. He looked at her expectantly, hopefully.

She smiled and nodded in confirmation. "The guards just radioed it in, they caught two female mutants. Seems like they were attempting to rescue their friend. What do you want us to do? Put them in with the other one, Anna-Marie?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No I'm going to deal with this one myself." He noticed Esme start to voice her concern about that but he shook his head and continued. "If one of these mutants is the one that got passed the wall, which I think we can assume they are considering they somehow also got passed our own defenses; then it's too risky. Call as many available guards to the main hall, if this mutant is as powerful as they seem then we're going to need all the manpower we can get. Also call the other members of leadership, They're going to need to be there too. And you of course."

Esme nodded her head to show she understood and then set out to gather everyone up. He took a deep breath and pushed away the ghosts of his past that were trying to sneak into his thoughts again. .Tick. He composed himself letting the ticking sound push his darker thoughts away and then made his way to the main hall. It was about time he finally met this mutant that had caused such a fuss since their arrival.

**Clarice's POV**

Clarice struggled against the vice like grip that was around her upper arm, trying desperately to break free. But whoever was leading her was too strong.

She tried to calm her heart rate and slow her breathing, knowing she was on the verge of panicking. She couldn't see anything through the thick material of the black sack that was over her head. She could hear muffled sounds around her, she thought they might be voices but she couldn't be sure. The uncertainty of her situation only made her fear increase. She had no idea what these people were going to do to her or to Glow. She couldn't help but wonder about Anna-Marie. Was she ok? Had they killed her already? But most of all the thought that kept coming to the forefront of her mind was that she had failed she hadn't been able to find John. If she died now it was without ever seeing him again. The memory of the last time she saw him came to her. The look of terror on his face, the devastation. That was all she was left with now.

All of a sudden she was pulled to a stop and shoved to her knees. She could feel more than see or hear the people around her. There seemed to be alot of them. She could just make out the buzz of their excited chatter.

The hood was ripped from her head and a gasp went around the room and then it went eerily silent. She noticed that the large booted feet of the man that had been approaching her had suddenly stopped. She heard Glow beside her left out a breath.

Clarice slowly let her eyes travel up the man's body. Like the men who had ambushed them he was wearing black combat pants. A knife was sitting in a thigh holster. Reaching his torso she saw that unlike the others he wasn't wearing a flak jacket but instead just had on a plain black t-shirt. Then her gaze landed on his face. Her heart skipped a beat and the air caught in her lungs. She took in his long dark hair and his warm brown eyes that were staring at her in shock. He had dark circles under his eyes and his complexion looked a little pale almost sickly. He had grown some facial hair. The stubble gave him a somewhat unkempt look but it didn't look bad on him. She took him all in as a smile spread across her face joy warming her chest. "John!" She whispered in delight.

She struggled to her feet and tried to reach out to him, forgetting for a moment that her hands were still cuffed behind her back. He just continued staring at her in disbelief. She could see a writhing mess of emotions in his eyes. Shock, pain, grief, joy, relief, wariness, love.

He started to reach a hand out to touch her but then seemed to think better of it, instead curling it into a tight fist and returning it to his side.

She broke her gaze away from him to quickly look around the room. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces there, mostly guards. But she recognized some of them. She spotted Caitlin Strucker off to the left. She too was staring at Clarice like she couldn't believe her eyes. Her hair was longer with a little more grey in it and her eyes had a haunted look. Clarice noted that the rest of the Struckers were nowhere to be seen and had to push away an uneasy feeling.

Just behind John to his right was one of the Frost sisters. That too made Clarice a little unsettled. What was she doing here? She couldn't be sure but she thought it might be Esme, something about the way she was holding herself. But then it was always hard to tell the difference between them.

To John's left was Marcos. He was flicking his gaze between her and Glow and again he looked like he was in shock. Yet when she caught his eyes for a split second he had the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

She waited for someone to say something but the hall continued to stay eerily silent, you could hear a pin drop. She could feel the tension in the air growing and she could feel every set of eyes in the room transfixed on her.

Eventually it all became too much for Clarice. So she decided to break the silence herself. Locking her eyes back on John she quipped "What's wrong with you all? You look like you've seen a ghost." Her attempt at breaking the ice was only met by more silence. Sighing she tried again. "So the weirdest thing happened to me about a week back. There I was chilling in the sewers with the Morlocks when a bunch of asshole Purifiers showed up and shot me. Then I fell into my own portal only to be told when I fell out again that two whole years had gone by. So what's new with you guys?" She said flippantly

John just started shaking his head in denial, he seemed to be struggling to believe what was right in front of him. "No you're not real. You're one of Selene's tricks."

"No John, I'm not a trick, Look I know it's been long time for you but it's really me." But he only continued to shake his head, avoiding her eyes. She was starting to feel frustrated, desperate. This wasn't how she imagined their reunion going. She wanted to reach out and grip his chin and force him to look back at her like somehow that would convince him she was real, but she was still restrained by the stupid cuffs. "When I got shot something weird happened with my portal, I don't really understand what happened, I think I was trapped for a while but then when I got out I was in Pittsburgh..."

"Wait what are you saying?" It was Marcos that spoke. "That for you you've only been gone a week? And that you what somehow time traveled and landed in Pittsburgh? How did you survive the gunshot wounds?"

Before she could answer the Frost sister (whichever one she was) beat her to it. "Anna-Marie, she's a healer. That explains it..."

"NO!" John cut across her sharply. "No it doesn't explain it, this is one of Selene's tricks. One that we've all fallen for before and I won't do that again. This isn't Clarice we lost her, she died two years ago." The pain in his voice radiated from him and into to her, sinking into her heart and tearing at it. God what had happened to him in the last two years?

She could feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes. She swallowed trying to fight them down. "John, please you have to believe me! I really am me, I really am here." But now he was backing away from her. "I'm telling you the truth!" She could feel despair setting in she wasn't going to be able to convince him was she?

"Look John I know Selene has used people you've lost against you before but I really do think that maybe this time Clarice is telling the truth. I mean alot of it adds up." Marcos interjected. "Glow is with her and I know that Glow was sent to Pittsburgh so that she could get help from a healing mutant. When Esme read Anna-Marie's thoughts she found out that she was from Pittsburgh and that she was a healing mutant. Also we know a mutant got passed the wall, Clarice could theoretically get past the wall with one of her portals. All the pieces fit." He tried reasoning with John. But John still looked unsure.

Then Clarice got an idea. "Let her read my mind." She gestured at Esme. "I might be able to lie to everyone else in this room but I won't be able to lie to her." John looked between the two of them for a moment clearly conflicted. But then he nodded.

"Ok, stayed relaxed and try not to push back against me ok." Esme instructed. Clarice nodded. Then she felt a curious sensation, like a prodding feeling in her head. Then a building pressure and she could feel Esme there. Images started flitting across her mind. She saw herself get shot again, felt the pain. She saw that swirling vortex of energy. Her time in Pittsburgh. Portalling passed the wall. Hiding in the clinic. Anna-Marie's abduction and then their own capture. Then the pressure in her head eased and she was alone in her own head again.

Esme looked back at John she was smiling but she also looked a little in awe like she couldn't really believe what she had seen. "She's telling the truth. It's really her." Clarice looked back at John who stared back at her searching her eyes for something. She smiled at him reassuringly. But he still didn't look entirely convinced. It looked as if he desperately wanted it to be real and yet he was terrified that it would turn out that it was all just some trick.

"But it still doesn't make sense to me. If you were safe in Pittsburgh why would you risk coming back to DC. I mean I'm assuming Glow and Anna-Marie told you about the wall and Selene and how dangerous it was. Why come back here?" John still argued. Still fought to understand and make sense of it all.

"Oh believe me we tried telling her how dangerous it was! Girl does not know how to listen." Glow muttered half under her breath.

Marcos chuckled in response. "Yup that sounds like Clarice." He bantered while giving Clarice a wink.

She just rolled her eyes at Marcos and answered. "Oh I don't know John maybe because this is where I last saw you. I came here looking for you! I've spent every minute since I got out of my portal trying to get back to you."

John met her eyes and Clarice could see tears starting to form in them she could also see the mix of emotions. The battle between hope and mistrust.

That was when Caitlin approached and gently put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. "Maybe this time we really have just been granted a miracle. So she time-traveled then got healed by a mutant and managed to portal past an energy sucking wall. It's hardly the strangest thing that's happened over the last few years. Anything's possible right?" She smiled at Clarice. "I think maybe instead of questioning it too much we should just be grateful that we've got Clarice back. That she's safe."

John looked back at Clarice. The look of hopefulness and pain and grief on his face broke her heart, he looked so lost. His voice shook as he quietly asked. "It's really you?"

"Yeah babe. It's really me." She reassured him softly tears falling down her cheeks. She saw him swallow and try and get his own tears under control. Then he gestured to a guard behind her. She felt the man unlock her cuffs and she let out a groan of relief as she stretched her arms out and rubbed at the sore points on her wrists. The guard then moved over and did the same for Glow. Clarice wanted to rush to John and wrap her arms around him, to touch him, to breath him in. But he still seemed a little off with her, some what distant.

"Our friend Anna-Marie. Is she ok?" Glow asked looking between John, Esme and Marcos.

"Oh yeah she's fine we've got her contained in another room but she hasn't been harmed." Marcos reassured them both. Clarice sighed in relief as Marcos continued. "Look we're sorry about the hand cuffs and the hoods and everything. It's just we've got to be careful with Selene's people about. It's just security you know?"

"It's ok Marcos." Clarice assured him. "We get it. It's a darker, meaner, rougher place out there nowadays. You're just protecting your own." She smiled at him before locking her gaze back on John trying to figure out what he was thinking. Why wasn't he holding her yet? Why was he still keeping so much distance between them?

John cleared his throat then looked over at Glow. "Esme will take you to see Anna-Marie now. She'll get some food sorted out for you both and some clean clothes. We'll also get some rooms set up for you, we don't exactly have a five star set up here but we've got fairly comfortable beds and blankets, it's warm." He informed her before turning his attention back to Clarice. "Can we talk?"

Clarice nodded and turned to Marcos then Caitlin pulling them both into tight hugs. "I'll catch up with you guys later ok." They both smiled and nodded back. She turned and caught Glow's eye, she nodded her head and smile comfortingly at Glow's uncertain look. Glow smiled back and then followed Esme out. Clarice turned back to John and followed him through a nearby door.

He led her down several hallways and then into a room. It was a decent size but kind of generic. It had plain white walls and a grey threadbare carpet. There was a double bed and a desk with some files and a laptop on it and a wardrobe in the corner but that was it.

John was standing with his back to her. She reached out a tentative hand, no longer able to resist the urge to touch him, and gently placed it on his shoulder. She felt his breath catch and then he turned and yanked her towards him. She collided with his chest as his lips came crashing down on hers. He had one hand on her lower back and the other tangled in her hair.

After a few heated moments he went to pull back but Clarice wrapped her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck and wrapped her other arm around his shoulders pulling him back to her, bringing their lips back together. God she had missed the taste of him. She was so wrapped up in him that she hadn't even realized they were moving until her back hit the door. He moved in closer as she tugged him tighter to her wanting no space between them.

John's hands left her waist and he ran them up her arms to the hands that were gripping his shoulders. He gently pinned them to the door on either side of her head. He rubbed her wrists softly with his thumbs as he broke away from her lips and began placing little kisses across her cheek, then her ear, down her neck. The tickle of his facial hair against the skin of her neck was a new sensation, a testament to how much time had passed for him, but she didn't mind it.

Clarice let out a soft sigh, nuzzling into his shoulder and breathing in the familiar scent of him, he smelt the same way the air does right before the rain falls. She gasped as she felt his tongue flick against her pulse point. Then he kissed her lips again deeper this time, intensely like he might not ever get to kiss her again.

Clarice felt hot, flushed and her heart was racing as she breathed in and out rapidly. John broke their kiss and pulled back a little to look into her eyes. He cupped her cheek stroking it gently. "God, I love you so much." He whispered oh so softly.

She smiled warmly at him, leaning forward to brush her nose against his. "I love you too." He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. They stood like that for a few heartbeats just enjoying being together again. As he breathed out she breathed in, the both of them sharing the same air. She reached up onto her tiptoes and kissed him again tenderly, once, twice before he cupped the back of her neck and deepened it. She gently pushed on his shoulder and turned them so that he was the one with his back to the door. She broke away and gave him a mischievously playful smile. Tugging on his hands she backed up towards the bed.

As they fell down onto the soft mattress together Clarice relished in the feeling of his weight above her, enveloping her. Maybe it ought to scare her but she only felt safe. To her John was like an approaching thunderstorm, he made the air around them hotter and thicker. Made it crackled with electricity and excitement. He was that feeling of anticipation that hangs in the air as you wait for that first flash of lightening or the rumble of thunder that rattles through you and makes you feel more alive. And yet he was also that feeling of calm that washes over you as the first drops of rain water fall down and brush over your skin, clinging to you. Clarice let her eyes fall shut and just let herself get lost in him as he became lost in her.

**John's POV**

He felt the tendrils of sleep unfurling from him, slowly releasing him as he drifted awake. The first thing he became aware of was Clarice. She was nestled against him. Her bare back was pressed against his chest. The warmth of her soft skin was radiating through him causing that warmth to spread through his chest making his heart ache with how much he had missed her, how much he loved her. He buried his face into the space between her shoulder and neck, breathed in deeply. She smelt the same as she always did, like the floral scent of her shampoo that still lingered and static. He guessed that was from the energy of her portals. He shuffled in closer to her, he would never be close enough to her.

He thought back on the last two years he had spent without her. The grief and pain that her 'death' had brought him. He had never felt pain like it. Then he remembered how that pain had faded into nothingness. Just the feeling of being numb. It was just easier that way to not let himself feel anything. To keep a tight rein on his emotions. Stay in control.

That all ended when they pulled that hood off Clarice. All of those oppressed feelings came pouring out like a tidal wave, overwhelming him. He had been so shocked to see her and yet he didn't want to let himself believe that she was truly here with him. Selene had got him with that trick before. But this time it was real. She was real and she was here and he would be damned if he ever let anyone take her from him again. He subconsciously tightened the arm that was wrapped around Clarice's waist causing her to moan in protest as he accidentally jostled her awake. "Sorry babe." He apologized gently as she turned to face him.

But she just smiled brightly at him, making his heart skip a beat. God, how could anyone be as beautiful as she was. She snuggled into him and ran her hand over his chest, resting it over his heart. She moved so that her head was resting on his chest, she lay silently for a moment listening to his heartbeat. "Mmm, I love that sound." She told him tenderly. Placing a kiss on the skin over the spot. He smiled down at her while playing with her hair.

She reached up and ran a hand over the hair of his beard chuckling to herself. "What?" He asked teasingly. "Don't you like it?"

She looked at him with that playful glint that he loved so much. "Hmm I'm not sure yet, it's definitely different. And it tickles." She giggled making him chuckle in turn. "What made you grow it?" She asked curiously.

"Well it adds to my Johnny Depp vibe, so..." He joked. Clarice bursts out laughing which only made him grin wider.

"You do kinda look like Johnny Depp." She wheezed out. Then she tried to take a few gulping breaths and get her laughter under control. And then tried to muffle the sound in his shoulder when she couldn't. That set John off to as her laughter had always been infectious to him. He let the laughter roll through him till his ribs hurt from laughing so much. But damn if it didn't feel good to laugh again.

Eventually they were able to get themselves under control again and he lent into her. "I'll shave it off if you like, I can always grow it back if you miss it too much." He smiled at her and was rewarded with beaming grin and a quick kiss to the lips. He tried to remember the last time he felt this happy, this content.

Then the light from the morning sun glinted through the window and danced over the skin of her back. He tensed as he spotted three small round scars on her back. He had been so caught up in the heat and urgency of last night that he hadn't seen them. "Hey what's wrong?" Clarice asked sensing his tension. He slowly ran a finger over one of the bullet wound scars. Clarice just gave him a sad look and an attempt at a reassuring smile. Shifting from under her John slowly lowered his head and lightly kissed the first scar. He heard Clarice sigh softly. His breath ghosted across her skin making goosebumps appear as he moved to the next one and pressed his lips to her skin again as she reached for his hand and linked their fingers together. He moved to the last one that was nearer the top of her back placing another kiss there too. He felt Clarice shift and roll over. It was then that the saw that she had three matching scars on her stomach too. The bullets had gone right through her. He met her eyes again, an intense look passed between them, all of their emotions were conveyed in that one look, the pain, the grief, the fear and heartbreak, the relief at finally being back together again and the all consuming love they felt for the other. He let his lips drop back down to her skin again tasting that first scar. As he did Clarice threaded her fingers into his hair holding him against her. As he moved onto soothe the next scar he noticed that Clarice's chest was rising and falling with each deep breath. He gently rubbed reassuring circles on her hip.

He rested his cheek against her stomach as he stared at that last bullet wound. Tears slipped from his eyes and ran down the skin of her stomach. She sought to comfort him by stroking his hair behind his ear. He had seen enough gunshot wounds in Afghanistan and knew enough about human anatomy to know that the bullet had come dangerously close to her heart. He kissed her skin again this time lingering longer wishing he could take away the pain he knows she must of experienced when those bullets tore through her. He kissed each scar over and over again feeling the muscles of her stomach twitch with pleasure. When she saw those scars in the future he didn't want her to have to remember that pain, he wanted her to remember the sensation of his kisses against her skin.

After a while Clarice tugged at his arm bringing him up to kiss her on the mouth. He loved the taste of her, it was sweeter than any other treat. As they broke apart again Clarice reached up and brushed away his tears. "Hey." She whispered gently to him. "It's ok, I'm here now, and your here. We're together and that's all that matters." He smiled at her and then pulled her back into his embrace. They laid there for a while in a comfortable silence. They both knew they had a lot to talk about. About their time apart, about the issues they had before everything happened, about the future. But for now they were content to just exist together.

That couldn't last though and they both knew it, so after some time Clarice sighed and looked up at him. "John what happened while I was gone? Where are the others? You know the rest of the Struckers, Lorna, Erg? Why are you in a Trask facility? And what happened to Reeva? Also who is this Selene woman because before today I had never heard of her?"

John let out a big breath wondering where the hell to start and then figured well probably the beginning. "Ok I'll tell you all about it. But you should know it's a really long story and it all starts the day you were shot."

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**Author's Note: **Yay John and Clarice and reunited once more and it feels so good. So as a little sneak peek next chapter is going to be a flashback chapter so we'll get to learn what happened to everyone else after Clarice fell into the portal. So you'll have a few more answers there too. If you have any theories feel free to leave a review I love reading peoples thoughts on it and it gives me a little kick when my readers do figure things out. Anyway one last little tidbit I gave John a beard in this fic originally because I wanted to show that he was in more of a depressive state and so not making as much effort with his appearance, to make him seem a bit more disheveled and unkempt. Also to highlight the effect losing Clarice has had on him. That really silly scene between thunderblink where they talk about him looking like johnny depp was inspired by a photo blair put on his instagram where he had grown a beard. Like 90% of the comments were about how he looked like a young johnny depp and once I saw it I couldn't unsee it and I found it kinda funny so I figured why not and I added it in. Anyway that's enough rambling for one day and I'll will post again as soon as I can.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's notes: Hey guys so I'm finally back I apologise for being gone for so long but you know life has a way of getting in the way sometimes lol. Anyway this chapter is a flashback chapter some of the events do line up with what happened in episodes 15-16 you'll know which parts obviously there's also some dialogue from the episodes. Some of Reeva's dialogue has been given to Selene. So yeah there are some similar elements but its going in a completely different direction after this chapter. We're going to be learning some more about the events that lead us to where all the characters are currently as well as some more about Selene. To be honest no one is really having much fun in this chapter, John in particular is in a pretty dark place. Well actually the Inner Circle and Selene are having a bit of fun but other than that the rest of the characters are miserable. So yup a bit of a emotionally heavy chapter this time. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and obviously I don't own anything.**

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**Chapter**** 5**

**2 Years And 3 Months Ago, Washington DC**

**John's POV**

His fists throbbed with pain with each punch, the wall continued to crumble away with every hit but still she did not magically reappear before him. He could still smell her blood in the air, feel it sticky on his face. His eyes stung from the tears and cement dust, his knuckles stung from the impact against the wall and his heart stung from the loss of her, but he didn't care he just continued pounding on the wall. The image of her being hit, riddled with bullets and then swallowed by her own portal swam before his eyes. No she couldn't be gone, he could still feel her, he could still feel her all around him, he could still hear her heartbeat. She couldn't be gone.

Suddenly Marcos was beside him. "John...uh... What are you doing?" His voice broke through the haziness that had surrounded John since it had happened.

"I can't leave her." He choked out as an explanation. She wasn't gone, he could still feel her.

"Who? Clarice? Where is..."

" She got shot." But she wasn't gone, he could still feel her.

"Oh, my God. She, uh..." John could hear the shock, the pain in Marcos' voice as he processed what John had just said.

"I don't know." He answered, "She fell." He tried pulling in some breaths but it hurt to breathe. He took a gulp and tried again. "She fell through a portal and she vanished." But she's not gone, he could still feel her. "I saw it happen. I saw... I saw her fall." Shaking his head he thought but she's not gone, I can still feel her. And so he went right back to hitting the wall. I can still feel her, if I can still feel her then I have to find her, I can't leave her.

" Look, I'm sorry... um John, but you just said she's...uh, she's not here." Marcos tried to reason with him, but he didn't understand, she wasn't gone, he could still feel her.

So thats what he told him. "You don't understand. I can still feel her." He swang at the wall again but saw a look of pain and grief flash across Marcos' face.

"This is crazy." Marcos said after a few moments shaking his head. But John ignored him and continued working on the wall. "Look, you think she's in that wall?"

"I'M NOT LEAVING HER!" He yelled in frustration at Marcos, Why didn't he get it? Clarice wasn't gone, she couldn't be, he could still feel her. But then Reed came running, shouting into the alley.

"Guys! We need to go! Now! There's Purifiers out on the street!" So what there were Purifiers on the street. John didn't care he couldn't leave without Clarice, he had to find her, so he just hit the wall even harder, ignoring both Marcos and Reed.

"You heard him!" Marcos insisted pulling on his arm. Without thinking John pushed Marcos away. He flew halfway down the alley landing with a crash. Reed looked on in shock. John felt guilt and regret tug at him, he hadn't meant to push Marcos that hard, he hoped he hadn't hurt him. Relief swam through him as he saw Marcos scramble to his feet. He hadn't meant to push him that hard but Marcos still didn't understand that John had to find Clarice, she was hurt and she needed him, he couldn't leave her.

Suddenly a blinding burning light flashed right in his eyes as Marcos unleashed his powers at John temporarily phasing him. As he blinked rapidly Marcos grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "The Purifiers are here, the cops aren't far behind." He insisted urgency in his voice. But John just shook his head. He had to find her, she wasn't, she couldn't, but...but he could still feel her. Couldn't he?" Marcos shook him again. "Listen to me. What would Clarice want you to do?" John knew what Clarice would want him to do. It was the same thing he'd want her to do if the roles were reversed. "Now, you know the answer." Marcos continued desperately trying to break through to John. Clarice would tell him to leave, to stay safe, to think straight and be rational. Isn't that why she left him in the first place? For being too reckless. But how was John suppose to be rational without her? How was he suppose to be anything without her?

"Now, come on." Marcos said again pulling on his arm. Reluctantly John followed. He'll come back later, he told himself because she wasn't gone, she couldn't be, he could still feel her.

**Lorna's POV**

She was sat around the table along with the rest of the Inner Circle as Reeva stood above them. Reeva had a smile on her face as she looked around at them all. Like a teacher observing her class.

"The moment we've been waiting for has finally arrived." Reeva began momentously. "Our actions in the next 24 hours will determine the course of mutant history." She paused and took a deep breath looking around the table and making eye contact with each of them in turn. "With that said before we continue there is someone I want to introduce to you all." Lorna felt alarm run through her. A new player in the mix was not what she had anticipated. All heads turned as the elevator doors opened and the sound of heels could be heard clicking towards them. As Lorna looked round she was met with the sight of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. But it was an almost unnatural kind of beauty. The woman was tall and slim. She had pale white skin and long raven black hair. She looked entirely overdressed in a long form fitting black evening dress with a long slit up one leg. She had dark smokey eyeshadow on and her lips were painted blood red. Lorna found herself both terrifed and yet in awe of her. But above all one thing Lorna was sure of was that she did not trust this woman.

The woman smiled at them all as the passed by the table and came to stand next to Reeva giving her a hug in greeting. Reeva beamed at the woman before turning back to the group smiling brightly. "This is Selene, the legendary Black Queen of the original Inner Circle." Lorna heard soft gasps come from the Frost sisters as they looked at Selene like she was some kind of Goddess among them. That's curious Lorna thought. She had never heard of Selene before. Schooling her face back into a passive look Lorna turned her attention back to the two women before her. "Not only does she have a long history with the Inner Circle and the former Hellfire Club but she is also the mastermind behind our uprising. Now I'm going to give her the pleasure of explaining what our next steps will be." Reeva finished before taking a step back allowing Selene to be front and centre. This too intirgued Lorna, all this time she had believed Reeva was the boss but now it would seem as if this Selene woman was the true puppetmaster.

Selene smiled sickenly down at them. "I know I am a stranger to you all but I am familiar with each and every one of you and I can not tell how much I've been looking forward to meeting you all. I am very proud of each of you. Our uprising has been every bit as successful as we'd hoped. And now thanks to all of your efforts it is perfectly clear to mutants and humans alike that there is only one solution. Two nations, divided. Ours and theirs. You have worked hard. And one last push will take us to our goal. We must destroy the institutions of a nation that hates us." Selene announced grandiosely.

" Wait a second." Lorna cut in. "You want us to destory Government buildings? You do know what the security is like out there?" She questioned.

Selene only smiled in return before the Frost sisters replied. "Don't worry. We have our ways." Lorna just shrugged trying to act nonchalant.

"Our first attack will be on the Sentinel Services Headquarters. We will enter through the sewers where Andrew will break through the wall into the building, Lorna you will take down the buildings communication, we will then work as a team to neutralise the threat." Selene paused a moment to smile around at them all.

"Wait neutralise, do you...do you mean kill them?" Andy asked. He looked nervous and apprehensive. It gave Lorna a little spark of hope.

"Yes is that a problem?" Reeva replied gently, Andy quickly shook his head which made Reeva smile wider at him. "Excellent."

"Once we have secured the Sentinel Services Headquarters we can move onto even bigger targets." Selene continued. "A two wave attack, One team will take down the White House, The second team will take out the Pentagon. Afterwards we will have complete control over DC and here we will build a world greater than your wildest imaginations. Now I know you must all have so many questions but I must ask you all to be patient. I promise all will be revealed in good time. For now I want you all to prepare yourselves. There will be a scouting party later on tonight for anyone who wants to join. Thank you again for all your hardwork, together we will make a glorious new world." Selene finished. As she finished excited chatter eruoted around the table. Before slowly one by one the group began to disperse. Each with excitement in their eyes. But Lorna was trying to push down a feeling of dread.

Andy turned to her eyes wide with both excitement and a little apprehension and nervousness. "This is crazy. It's actually happening."

"Hard to believe." She took a few deep breaths to compose herself, she had to be careful especially around the Frost Sisters. She rose from the table and began to move towards the exit with Andy close behind her.

"Lorna?" Someone called softly, she turned to see Selene approaching her. She gave a quick nod to Andy letting him know it was ok and he continued on his way throwing a few curious looks back at them. "It is Lorna correct?" Selene continued. Lorna nodded slowly curious as to why this woman had singled her out. Could she sense Lorna's disloyalty? "Ah so you're Eric's daughter. I've been very much looking forward to meeting you. They say your power is as spectacular as your father's." Lorna felt a little jolt shoot through her at the mention of her father's name. It was so unusual for her to hear someone use his real name, most just referred to him as Magneto.

"You knew my Father?" She asked curiously.

"Oh yes." Selene replied with false sweetness. "I gave him my support during his time as the White King. Going back a little now." She laughed. "He was quite the inspirational man your Father." Lorna pasted a smile on her face in response. She couldn't help but feel like Selene was trying to manipulate her somehow. She was very curious as to what exactly Selene wanted with her. As Lorna continued to smile at the other woman Selene continued. "He too dreamed of building a Mutant Homeland, he even succeeded for a little while, his grand kingdom of Genosha. Of course it all came to nothing in the end. But still you can imagine my excitement when I discovered his daughter also shared the dream. I was good friends with your Father once, I have had many friends over the years in fact, betrayals too. There are those who have learned how much of a mistake it is to betray me." Selene stated and Lorna began to feel uneasy as Selene stared intently into her eyes. Lorna felt like she couldn't look away almost like she was in a trance. Selene held her eyes a little longer before she broke into another of her sickly sweet fake smiles. "But I was hoping that you and I could be friends too. It would be a shame for us to be on opposite sides given the history I have with your family. What do you say?" She stared at Lorna again. Trapping Lorna with her gaze.

Managing to break the gaze she looked away for a moment before meeting Selene's eyes again. "I mean sure, that's cool with me." She replied trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible.

Selene smiled brightly at her. "Well excellent. Now I'll let you go and prepare for the big day tomorrow. You'll be joining us on the scouting mission?" Lorna nodded and then gave her one last smile before making her way to the elevator. Once she was out of sight she let the mask slip and all her thouhgts rushed into her mind. She needed to get out of here. Now! Something about that Selene woman really unsettled her. It was like she could see right into Lorna's soul. She didn't know how much of that story about being friends with her father was true but she had a feeling it wasn't much. Not that Lorna really cared who was friends with her father and who wasn't. Making it to her room she started throwing stuff in a bag and then she made her way out of her room. As she was passing through the main lounge area she saw Andy. For a moment she thought about leaving without him but then she realised that she couldn't. He had come here because of her she had to save him. "Hey Andy." She called as she walked towards him.

"Hey. I was just psyching myself up for tomorrow." Lorna felt a moment of uncertainty followed by guilt pass through her. Andy must have caught the look on her face because he asked. "Hey what's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath she said "Do you trust me?" Andy nodded a look of confusion on his face. "Then there is something I need to tell you."

**Esme's POV**

Esme and her sisters followed Reeva down the hall after the meeting. There was an awkward silence. Until Phobe finally piped up. "So Reeva, is Selene the new boss now?

"Phoebe!" Esme chastised her. But Reeva only smiled.

"Now now girls. I don't want any of you worrying about Selene's arrival. Rest assured she and I are equals, we plan to run the Inner Circle together as it was in the old days. Two Queens side by side. And trust me when I tell you that all three of you will be given positions of honour in our new regime. Both Selene and I have been very impressed with your work so far. And to show just how much we trust and value you we have a special task just for you three. Come with me." She reassured them smiling.

Intrigued Esme and her sisters followed Reeva into the elevator. Reeva pressed the button for the lowest of the levels. Esme was even more intrigued that was their most highly secured area of the building. Once they reached the lowest level. Reeva turned to them. "Ok girls before we go any further I need to provide you with security clearance, I don't need to tell you that only you three are premitted to come down here and that you must not under any circumstances divulge to anyone else what you may see down here." All three of them nodded in unison and Reeva went about entering codes, retinal scans and fingerprint scans for each of them. Finally once it was all complete the doors opened and they entered a small room. Right in front of them was a large security door with a security panel on the side. Once they had each been scanned the door opened to reveal a vault. In the centre of the vault in a glass display case was an ancient looking dagger.

"What's that?" Esme asked in awe as she approached the case. She was transfixed by the dagger. There was a kind of beauty about it.

"This belongs to Selene. It is incredibly precious to her. Now girls I need you to understand the enormity of the task before you. How important it is that this dagger is always protected. From now on one of you must always be in the presense of this dagger. You will work shifts..."

"Wait a second! You want one of us to always be here. But that will mean we'll always be seperated." Sophie exclaimed worry in her voice. Esme could see that Reeva's face had turned stern. There was ice in her eyes and she had clenched her fist obviously displeased by Sophie's comment.

"I think what Sophie is trying to say." Esme cut in hoping to appease Reeva. "Is that if we are separated then we are weaker, wouldn't it be better if we all stayed down here with the dagger? You know to better protect it?" Reeva's face softened and she released her fist.

Giving the girls a soft smile she explained "As much as that would reassure me I'm afraid it's just not doable. We need the other two for our plans to take over the government buildings. The Mutant Homeland is important too. However so is this dagger which is why one of you must keep it safe."

"But with all due respect Reeva, What's so special about this dagger. It looks really old, in fact it looks like it would probably break if you even tried to use it to stab someone. I mean what's so magical about this rusty old knife that one of us constantly has to be with it? Why would anyone even try to take it?" Phoebe pointed out. Reeva let out a sigh.

"Ok girls you understand that Selene is an imortant member of this organisation? An important part of bringing about the Mutant Homeland?" The three nodded in affirmation. "Good and so you understand that she must be protected the same way we would any of our other trusted members?" Again they all nodded. "Good now tell me what you all know about Selene." Reeva looked around at them expectantly.

"Um, Well we know that she's very powerful. Like off the charts kind of powerful with various different abilities although I'm not sure what those powers actually are. Also supposedly she's immortal and can't be killed. She's also really old like 17,000 years old." Esme answered while her sisters nodded along.

Reeva smiled slowly. "Well you're mostly right. She is immortal that's true. However she can be killed. This dagger is the only thing in this world that can truly kill Selene." A hushed silence fell across the room as they all turned to look at the unassuming blade sitting on a cushion behind the glass. "Now girls I'm telling you this to convey to you just how important the protection of this blade is. Needless to say this information is incredibly sensitive and must not ever leave this room are we clear? I don't think I need to tell you how bad the consequences would be for all of us if something should happen to this dagger." Reeva stared intently at each of them. They all nodded.

"Of course Reeva. You can count on us." Esme assured her. Still trying to wrap her head around everything she had just learnt.

Reeva smiled once again. "Good, I knew I could count on you all. Now Sophie will take the first watch. You will work shifts of eight hours each. Is that clear?"

"Yes Reeva." She nodded and the three turned back into the elevator leaving Sophie alone in the vault.

When they stepped out of the elevator into the main hall Selene was there waiting for them. She smiled in greeting. "All sorted?" She asked.

"Yes of course the girls are honoured to be serving you." Reeva answered cheerily.

"Rest assured Ma'am, we'll keep it perfectly safe for you." Esme assured her. Selene laughed softly.

"Well I'm very pleased to hear that but Esme dear please there's no need to call me Ma'am. Selene is just fine." Esme returned her smile. Then Selene turned to Reeva. "Reeva I need a little top up if you understand my meaning."

"Of course." Reeva laughed lightly. "I do have something in mind. Lets see what I can do here for you." She answered as she pulled out her phone and rapidly sent a text message. It was only a few short minutes later that her phone dinged in reply. Reeva had a sinister smile cross her face as she looked down at her screen. "Perfect." She whispered softly. "We can go now if you like I know just the place that will satisfy you."

Selene had a dark smile on her face as she nodded. "Lead the way my dear friend." She turned to look at Esme and Phoebe thoughtfully. "Hmm, how about we bring these two along, not just for protection but for educational purposes?" Selene suggested.

"Ah yes I'm sure the girls will enjoy the experience." Reeva agreed. Esme could feel her sister's excitement next to her. But she herself had a sudden uneasy feeling come over her, a moment of uncertainty and doubt._ Don't be such a buzz kill_ her sister's voice echoed in her head. She turned to give her a stern look. Before sighing in resignation and following the others to the parking garage.

**John's POV**

Several hours had passed since Marcos and Reed had left to rescue Lauren and Caitlin and John was still sitting in the same spot on the couch. Zingo had rested her head on his leg and was occasionally whining. It was almost like she knew something was up. John's entire body was aching. His arms were sore from punching the wall, his knuckles were bruised and cracked and bleeding. His head was aching most likely a combination of the stress of the day and the flash of light that Marcos had sent at him. But more than anything else his heart ached. He missed her. He needed her back. He needed to have her here in his arms again. Everywhere he looked there she was. He looked striaght ahead into their bedroom and there she was throwing a ball back and forth for Zingo laughing the whole time, eyes alight with joy. When was the last time John had seen her smile like that? The early hours of the morning that she had left him. When she had woken to find him working at his computer obsessing over Evangeline's visit. She had sat on his lap and reassured him before coaxing him back to their bed with soft touches and deep kisses. All the while she was wearing that playful smile that he loved so much. He felt pain race through his chest as he thought about how he would never see that smile again. Hot tears welled in his eyes trekking a burning trial down his face.

Back in the alley way he had told himself over and over again that she wasn't gone because he could still feel her. But as the time had passed and the despair set in he came to the realisation that that was just his powers. Whenever anyone touched anything they left an imprint, it was this imprint that he could track, that showed him the movements of a person for days, weeks sometimes even months after they had left a place. The more they exsisted in one place, the more they used a particular object, the stronger the imprint. Which was why he was seeing Clarice everywhere he looked in their apartment. Eyes open or eyes closed it didn't matter she was still there. When he looked into the kitchen he saw her leaning forward to kiss him softly, before giving him that smile and moving in closer to him so he could kiss her deeper and longer. He could hear her teasing voice _You really want to get me in the mood? Finish the dishes._ If he looked to their bed he could see her stroking his hair away from his face as he poured his heart out about his past addiction. Her calming touch and understanding look. In the bathroom was her hairbrush and makeup bag and there she was standing at the mirror wiping away the foundation and revealing her marks. The flirtatious look she gave him as she joked about him being chianed to a bed. He remembered looking at her in that moment and realising that he was in love with her but being unable to say the words out loud. So instead he had cupped her face, studied her. _God, you are so beautiful._ How she had smiled and shook her head a little when he had said that, her teasing but somewhat shy_ Shut up_ then how she had tilted her face up to his and urged him to _Go on_ before falling into his kiss wrapping her arms tightly around him. All of these images and more swam across his eyes never giving him a moments peace. The pain intensified and John slammed his eyes shut trying to block the visage of her out. But he could not. He felt the air catch in his chest as grief and loss swamped him, the pain was unbearable and all he could do was wrap his arms around his torso and lean forward curling himself into a ball bidding the pain in his heart to subside. But it didn't, would it ever?

It all became too much. He had to do something he couldn't take this anymore. So he jumped to his feet startling Zingo in the process and rushed to the cupboard under the sink. He pulled out all the cleaning supplies and grabbed a carboard box. Methodically going around the house he gathered all of Clarice's things, fighting away the images as he went, and placed them all into the box. He then put the box as far back in the bottom of the closet as he could, he gathered all the spare blankets and anything else he could find and piled it all on top of the box. Then he shut the door and walked out of the room. He figured if he contained everything Clarice related in that one spot then he could avoid it and maybe, just maybe he'd find some relief from the images and the pain that was brought with them. He then set about deep cleaning the entire place. Any surface she may have touched was thoroughly disinfected. He used so much anitseptic that it made his eyes burn and his nose and throat sting with the fumes.

Once he was done he looked around the place. But it had no effect he could still see her, smell her, feel her. Then he realised it was him. Her imprint was on him. So he marched himself to the shower and scrubbed his skin raw. Not that it mattered she was too deeply ingrained in him. Her essence was imbued into his very skin. And as he stood there in fresh clothes looking around the apartment he felt cold. It didn't look right. It didn't smell right. It didn't feel right. Once again John felt tears welling up to sting his eyes as a lump formed in his throat. He walked back over to the closet and pulled the box out from under all the debris. Taking each item out one by one he put each back into its original resting place. Now that his moment of insanity had passed he realised deep down he didn't want to erase her. He couldn't erase her she was too much a part of him. Now that her things were back where they belonged he surveyed the apartment again. But now it didn't smell right. So he walked over to the bedside cabinet and picked up her perfume. Walking around the house he squirted her perfume into the air until eventually each room once again smelt of her. Then he took one of her t-shirts and laid it across his pillow. Crawling onto the bed he buried his face into her t-shirt breathing in deeply. He laid there for what seemed like hours, letting the scent and images of her wash over him. Until he heard Marcos arriving home. His thoughts turned to the Struckers and he was overwhelmed with the desire to make sure that they hadn't lost anyone else today. So he scrambled from the bed and started down the stairs.

**Esme's POV**

It was beginning to get dark but it was still early enough in the day that they could make out the colours and patterns of the stain glass window of the church in front of them. The chatter of a large group of people could be heard from inside. Selene had a smile of anticipation on her face as they made their way into the church. The main hall fell silent as they entered the room. Inbside was a large group of people. Some of them were wearing black t-shirts with white crosses on them. Up at the podium, Benedict Ryan and Jace Turner stood. The room was so silent that the sound of the door being locked echoed eerily around the room.

After a few moments Benedict Ryan found his voice. "What are you doing here?" He had directed his question at Reeva it was almost like he knew who she was Esme wondered curiously. But before she could think to much on it Jace Turner piped up from beside him.

"Now ladies think carefully about your next move, you should know that we are armed and will defend ourselves." He informed them with authority as a murmer of assertion rippled through the room.

But Reeva only laughed lightly. "Yes I'm sure Mr Turner. But I'm being so rude, Introductions." Reeva exclaimed with fake civility. "Selene this gentleman here is Mr Jace Turner. Turner here has made it his life's mission to hunt down Mutants. He considers us a danger to society and believes we should all be wiped out. He's imprisoned and killed many mutants, drove them from their homes and separated children from their mothers."

Selene had a dark look in her eyes as she slowly and menacingly approached Jace Turner. "Really?" She whispered softly. "And do you enjoy it Jace Turner? Seeing mutants suffer, hearing their cries?" Jace was shaking his head but Selene continued. "I bet you do, I bet it makes you feel powerful, like your invincible." Jace was still shaking his head, clearly struggling to find his words. Selene slowly ran a finger across his jawline. "Hmm you I want to savour so I'll save you for last." She stepped away from Turner and studied Ryan. "And who is this gentleman?" She asked Reeva softly.

"This is Benedict Ryan, he's been very useful to us and has worked closely with us for years now." Esme was surprised by that. Reeva had been working with Ryan this entire time? She quickly flitted her eyes to meet her sister's. Phoebe looked as surprised as she felt.

"Wait you've been working with the mutants?" Jace cut in staring down Ryan. But before he could answer Reeva interjected for him.

"Why of course he has, where do you think he got all the information from? Afterall it suited both of our agendas. Ryan got information on mutant incidences so he could rile up his purifiers, we got our message out to the world and so we could inspire our people to take up arms and join the resistence. By fanning the flames together we worked towards our shared goal, two seperate worlds, one for mutants and one for humans. Yes Ryan has been very useful to us, very cooperative, it'll be a shame to lose such a valuable asset but still." Reeva turned to smile at Selene raising her arms she gestured around the room displaying its occupants to Selene like they were a gourmet meal on a silver plate. "This is my sacrifice to you. To show you my dedication to both you and this cause."

Selene looked around the room hungerily clearly pleased with her gift. Then she brought her eyes back to Esme and Phoebe. "Girls if you could be so kind please tell all the boys and girls tro take their seats, tell them not to scream and not to run." You could feel the sudden spike in fear rise in the room as the Purifiers started trying to back away towards the locked exits. Selene turned her attention back to Ryan. "Not you though Mr Ryan, I'm a firm believer that a leader should lead by example so you'll be going first."

Esme's feeling of dread deepened and for a moment she hesitated until her sister's sharp words in her head and the pull of her influence urged Esme into action. She let the tendrils slither into the minds of those around her and began to instruct them. It's time to take your seats boys and girls. You can not scream, you can not run. Together they repeated the mantra over and over until everyone was seated perfectly still, lips clenched together. But Esme could see their eyes darting around the room searching the exits, wide with terror and breathing heavily.

Selene slowly approached Ryan who was still standing at the front of the room. Reaching out she gripped his neck and for a moment Esme thought Selene was going to choke him to death. But then a saoft pulsing blue light appeared at Ryan's neck where Selene had a hold of him. Ryan started to squirm clearly feeling uncomfortble. Then as the blue light pulsed brighter and began to travel down Selene's arm and into her body, Ryan began to scream. It was an awful sound like something was being ripped from him. Esme tried to black it out by focussing on keeping the others silent and in their chairs, but she could feel their fear radiating into her from their linked minds.

As the light continued to grow and pulse little cracks began to appear on Ryan's face. It looked as if he was drying out. _Maybe we should offer for him to use our moisturiser_ her sister's scathing, mocking voice floated through her mind. _Shut up Phoebe_ Esme sent back.

The cracks on his skin grew wider and spread down his neck and arms all the while Selene had a look of ecstasy on her face she was clearly gaining pleasure from whatever it was she was doing to Ryan. Reeva was watching the whole exchange with a look of awe and sick delight. Then all of sudden Ryan crumbled into dust. It trickled to the ground like falling snow. And Esme felt alarm and shock and terror writhing through her. The blue light shined around Selene before dimmnig slightly though not going out completely. There wasn't anything left of Benedict Ryan other than the small pile of dust at Selene's feet. Once again she heard her sister's mocking delighted laugh flit through her mind. _Ashes to ashes baby_. She grinned over at Esme but Esme found herself unable to share in her sister delight, she was far too disturbed by what she had just witnessed.

But it did not end there one by one each of the purifiers walked up to Selene and stood passively in front of her, like little lambs to the slaughter. And as each of them crumbled to dust the blue glow around Selene grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. True to her word Selene saved Jace Turner for last. He made no resistence as he calmly walked up to Selene, he didn't even flinch when she grabbed his neck. He just nodded his head at her, an almost content look in his eyes. "Do it." He commanded her looking her dead in the eyes. "Kill me."

Selene studied him curiously, the glow of the blue light shone across his face giving him an otherworldly look. "Interesting. You want this. You want to die. Why?" She asked curiously.

"I'm ready." He replied stoically. "I'm ready to see my little girl again."

Selene tilted her head to one side as she studied him. Then she released his neck and stepped away from him. The blue light dimmed then went out. She shook her head at him as he looked back at her in surprise. "Well the thing is Jace Turner it isn't as satisfying when they want it. It just doesn't have the same... flavour." She waved a hand dismissing him. "I no longer have any desire to kill you. Come ladies we have other things to attend to." And just like that she turned away and led them out of the church hall, leaving Jace Turner standing amongst the dust.

As they walked out into the night air Selene took in a deep breath. "Well I feel so much more refreshed." Esme didn't feel refreshed, she was trembling and felt shaken to her core. She could see Phoebe shooting her worried but judging looks. But she couldn't care right now she was too focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not letting her legs give out from under her. She wasn't sure why she was so upset by what she had witnessed, the were Purifiers after all. They were the bad guys so they deserved it right?

"Oh, good you certainly look refreshed." Reeva complimented Selene as they headed back to the car. She was right Selene somehow looked younger, healthier even and she seemed to be radiating power, it hung around her like static in the air. "Well we best get back its nearly time for the scouting mission."

A short drive later they were back at headquarters. As they reached the main hall they saw most of the team already gathered but there were some notable absences. "Where are Lorna and Andy?" Reeva questioned. "We need to be getting a move on." Reeva sounded somewhat like an annoyed parent that was being kept waiting by her children.

"I'll go get them if you like." Esme offered. She needed to get away for a moment and recompose herself. Reeva nodded her consent and so Esme headed in the direction of Lorna's bedroom. Should she tell Lorna what she had just seen? No Reeva wouldn't like that. But then she could trust Lorna right, they were friends and Lorna was part of the Inner Circle. So it should be ok to tell her right? Maybe she would be able to make Esme feel better about it make her see reason. Reaching Lorna's door she knocked briskly on it. There was nothing but silence from the other side. "Lorna?" She called out gently. "Lorna are you in there, if you're coming on the scouting mission we're leaving now."

There was still no reply and Esme felt that feeling of doubt begin to bubble up again. She knocked again before slowly pushing the door open. The room was dark and empty. Flicking on the switch Esme surveyed the room. Her stomach sank as she took in the open closet door and the empty hangers. Dashing out of the room she ran down the hall, her panic building. Reaching Andy's door she began to pound on it. "Andy!" She called out urgently. "Andy please tell me you in there!" But as predicted there was no answer. She pushed the door open and once again was met with an empty room. "Shit!" She cursed herself. How had she missed this. _PHOEBE!_ She called out to her sister through their telepathic link. She felt a twinge of concern come from Sophie down in the vault in response to her sister's distress.

_What is it?_ She heard Phoebe respond.

_I need you to come here. Now!_ She paced back and forth ringing her hands as she waited. How could this have happened. I mean Lorna had her doubts now and then but Esme never thought she would give up on the dream completely. And Andy had been a little nervous but he'd been solid up until now. What had happened to make them leave them, to leave her? Was it Selena's arrival? Esme knew that she had pulled Lorna aside after the meeting earlier. Had she said something that made Lorna leave? Why hadn't lorna said anything to her? They were friends weren't they?

Esme glanced up at the sound of her sister's heels clicking down the hall, and she rushed towards her. "They're gone!" She explained hurriedly as she gestured back at Andy's door. Phoebe stopped cold midstride.

"What do you mean they're gone?"

"Well they're not in their rooms!"

_Have you checked the trianing room? Maybe they wanted to let off some steam before the big mission._ Sophie's voice came into their minds.

"Soph they aren't letting off some steam, they left! You don't take all your clothes and belongings with you when you're only going to train in a room three floors down from your bedroom." Esme pointed out experated.

"Ok we need to calm down and figure this out. We also need to tell Reeva and Selene. Lorna and Andy know our plan. We're going to need to act quickly if we're going to rectify this. Sophie are you ok? Is the dagger still there? No one's made a move on it?"

_All good here. Dagger is definitely still here, I'd know I've been staring at the damn thing for 5 hours now._ Sophie moaned from down in the vault.

"Ok good." Esme felt relief at least one thing was still alright. "Well lets go deliver the bad news.

**John's POV**

Come evening fall John had found himself on the rooftop. The cool breeze caressed his skin and rustled his hair. If he closed his eyes he could pretend it was her touch. Memories of their time together came and went like a movie show. The first time they had meant. Her hair had been wet and her eyes filled with fright, yet he could see that she had that fighting spirit. Their first training session where she ahd expressed her love for warm jelly donuts. Those moments they had shared in the warehouse while they waited for the prison transit carrying Reed and Lorna before everything got really complicated between them. Their first kiss. The first day they spent living together in the apartment, how happy they were together. He remembered it all, every hug, every kiss, every touch and every look. Now he cherised them all.

As he stood there with the memories swirling around him he methodically sharpened his tomahawk. As Marcos had said he might not be able to track but he could still fight. And he had to fight for Clarice. His heart still ached for her. He had barely gotten through this day. How was he suppose to get through the rest of his life without her?

He closed his eyes again trying to fight off the grief. He could feel the air getting heavier from the approaching thunderstorm. It wasn't long before there was a flash of lightning forking its way across the ink black sky followed by the clap of thunder. He remebered Clarice once telling him that he reminded her of a thunderstorm, that whenever she was out in one she couldn't help but think of how he made her feel. He never really understood what she meant by that, he would always just chuckle and kiss her.

Suddenly an image of Clarice appeared before his eyes. Only this time it was different this one didn't seem to be a memory. She was dressed in the same clothes she was wearing the last time he saw her. He could see that she was shot, could see the three bloodstains growing as the blood seeped into her jacket. All around her was a swirling vortex of energy and she seemed to be reaching out to him. He tried to reach back but just as quickly as the image had appeared it faded away.

_John._ Hearing his name he snapped his head around to look in the direction the voice had come from. But there was no one there. "Clarice?" He called out softly. He had been so sure it had been her voice calling out to him. But he got no reply. And yet he could feel her presence more strongly than he ever had before. It was like she was wrapped all around him. As if she exisited everywhere all at once. Closing his eyes again he let the feeling of her wash over him, "Blink" he whispered softly.

He opened his eyes and looked around at the sound of the door opening. It was Marcos and the Struckers. John felt a jolt of surprise and relief go through him when he saw Andy enter through the door behind the Struckers. He looked at John nervously, like he wasn't sure what John's reaction would be, whether he was welcome or not. John attempted a small smile and gave him a nod of reassurance. He looked back to the doorway as he heard more footsteps approaching. Then his breath caught in his chest as Lorna approached him slowly. Just as Andy was she looked nervous. There were tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. Still she held his gaze as she reached out her hand for him to shake. John looked down at it for a moment before stepping forward and pulling her into a tight hug. After a moments hesitation he felt her hug him back. John was feeling a whole mixture of emotions in that moment. He felt joy and relief at having Lorna and Andy home. Relief that they hadn't lost anyone else. He was worried about what the Inner Circle were going to do next and how or where they were going to hide the Morlocks Clarice had rescued. But he also felt sadness. Over the last months that Lorna and Andy had been gone John had never wavered in his belief that they would get them back. He would often daydream about their return. Now here they were home again, but in every one of his daydreams when they returned Clarice was always standing by his side. They were here but now she was gone, she never got to see them return.

After a few moments Lorna and John slowly pulled apart. He looked around at his friends gathered, his family. He could see the apprehension on each of their faces. They all knew just as he did that soon they would have to fight the fight of their lives. They could feel its approach like a tiger stalking towards them in the night. As another clap of thunder echoed through their bones they all turned to look up at the sky when it lit with a fork of lightning. The storm was here and John hoped to God they were all ready for it.

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**Author's notes:** **Ok so this is now the longest chapter I've written so far and I'm no where near done with the flashback story so rather than let this chapter get too long I've decided to split it in two. I know this half has been a little light on the action and has been more of a set up chapter focusing on the aftermath of Clarice's 'death' and Selene's arrival but I promise the next half is a bit more action packed. Shit's about to go down as they say. I'm hoping to post the other half in a few hours but at the latest it'll be uploaded tomorrow. As always let me know what you think in the comments and until next time folks.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's notes: Hey guys first off I would like to apologize, I did say that part two of the flashback would be up the same day as part one which was very much my intention but unfortunately while taking what was suppose to be a short break from writing the second half I injured my back and was unable to even sit up unassisted and at one point ended up down the hospital. Luckily I am now recovered enough to get back to writing. That being said I do have some good news/bad news. The bad news is that once again this flashback chapter got way way too long and I have had to split it in half once again now making it a three parter. The good news is I've already written both halves so I'm going to post two chapters at the same time so you won't have to wait. Now before we get into the story I do need to do a couple of disclaimers. First is that there is some dialogue from the finale of the Gifted which obviously I do not own. The other thing is that I do want to put a trigger warning in here. There are descriptions of terroist attacks in this chapter. I know I may be spoiling the chapter a little there but I would rather do that then not put a warning and mistakingly cause someone distress, I know it is a sensitive topic. Therefore I have put a * just before that scene and ** at the end of it so if you do feel you will be negatively impacted by it but still want to read the chapter you can skip over that part. So yeah I think that's about it and happy reading.**

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**Chapter 6**

**2 Years And 3 Months Ago Westlake Apartments Washington DC**

**John's POV**

John, Marcos and Lorna were all sat round the table going over the Mutant Underground's files. John felt a lump of guilt and grief sitting in his throat as he looked down at the photo of Shatter. He should have done more to save him, John thought to himself.

"A lot of these files are on stations that don't exist anymore." Marcos informed them. "People that are gone."

John sighed as the guilt within him built. If ever he needed a reminder of how badly he had failed as a leader of the Underground it was seeing these files laid before him filled with the ghosts of the people they had lost. "Marcos, there's nothing left to rebuild. Just... just burn it all."

"All of this is my fault." Lorna stated quietly regret in her voice.

"Lorna." John tried to reassure her softly but she just shook her head at him.

"It is. I was fighting for a dream. A dream of a place for all of us. I believed in Reeva's lie. And Clarice died because of it." Lorna's eyes welled up as her voice caught in her throat. John felt pain stab through his chest making it harder to breath, he was still haunted by her image still felt the ache of her absence. "Marcos told me you saw her at the end." Lorna continued as she moved towards him.

The pain in this heart intensified as the memory of Jace Turner shooting Clarice came back to him. It was almost like he was back there, he swore he could feel her blood on his skin once more. But he knew it wasn't real. "Yeah...Uh... Jace Turner shot her." He explained trying and failing to keep his voice steady. "She was making a portal. I could still feel her, but she was just gone." Truth was even now he sometimes thought he could still feel her. He struggled to keep his tears at bay but when he looked back up at Lorna and saw her own tears he felt his eyes begin to prick.

"Look... I'm... I'm sorry." Lorna choked out. And John could see that she meant it. She really did feel like the blame was on her. Her tears were now running steadily down her cheeks.

John let out a sigh before looking her dead in the eyes. "You just promise me that you're gonna fight." He asked her intensely.

Looking back up at him, she held his gaze, steely and determined, and said passionately. "I promise."

Just then the door crashed open and the three turned to see the Struckers rushing into the apartment. "Guys you have to see this!" Reed blurted out as he grabbed the tv remote. As John turned his baffled gaze to the tv set he saw a women in a navy blue suit sitting at a desk with a solemn look as she she addressed her audience.

"For those of you just tuning in, welcome to The Ryan Hour. Unfortunately it is with heavy hearts and great sadness that we deliver some disturbing and tragic news. Earlier on this evening our patriarch and the man who brought this show to life was brutally murdered along with 52 others in an unprovoked mutant attack." John felt the shift in the room as the group looked around at each other.

"It had to be the Inner Circle right?" Andy asked as Lauren shooshed him her attention still on the news report.

"We are about to show a clip from an interview recorded a few hours ago. Jace Turner was the sole survivor of the attack. A warning to viewers there are some disturbing images and references to violence." The screen faded to black before coming into focus again on Jace Turner and another reporter in a suit. They were standing outside of a church. John felt a jolt of red hot rage and unbridled hate spike through him as he took in the image of Clarice's murderer. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth trying to get his emotions back under control. He noticed Marcos giving him a worried look but he just shook his head at him to let him know he was ok before turning his attention back to the screen. Turner looked shaken, he was ashen and seemed to be trembling a little, his eyes were locked to the ground.

"Less than an hour ago in this very church behind me 53 good, honest, law abiding American citizens were brutally attacked and killed by a group of mutant terroists." The reporter explained. The image then changed to the inside of the church showing a room that was covered in a thick blanket of ash. The reporter continued to tell the story in a voice over. "These images you are seeing now, that's not ash on the ground, its the remains of those men and women who lost their lives in this room." Gasps and alarmed looks ran around the room as the tension rose. John had a bad feeling, how powerful does a mutant have to be to be able to turn not just one but a large group of people to dust? The image flicked back to Turner and the reporter as the reporter turned to Turner and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Jace Turner here, who I am sure many of our viewers will recognise, is the sole survivor of the attack. Now Mr Turner I understand how very difficult this must be for you, you are an incredibly brave man, but could you recount what happened in the church this evening?"

Jace seemed to struggle for a moment taking in several deep breaths before finally looking up at the camera. "Um...Yeah, Yeah. Well Mr Ryan and I had gathered here at the church along with some others to pray and have a discussion about the rise in mutant crime. How we as a community can help keep each other safe, that kind of thing. And uh, this group of 4 mutant women showed up. They locked all the doors trapping us in the room. Two of them were the telepaths known as The Frost Sisters. They are known to the authorities and it is believed that this particular group are from the same group that are responsible for the attack at Creed Financial. The telepaths used their abilities to stop anyone running and kept them sat in their seats. Then one of the others, the dark haired one, she seemed to be the ringleader she... well she... one by one turned everyone to dust." As he finished Turner shook his head like he was struggling to believe what he had just witnessed and then looked back down at the ground, still clearly upset.

The reporter patted him on the back sympathetically. "I know this is very hard, we all appreciate you taking the time to help us understand what happened here tonight." The reporter turned to look back at the camera. "For our viewers at home you should shortly be seeing some composite drawings of the mutant terroists involved in the attack." As she spoke four images appeared on the screen. The first three John recognised immediately. The Frost Sisters and Reeva. But the last woman was a stranger to him.

Lorna stood up from the couch and pointed at the last drawing. "That's Selene." She informed the room, shaking her head, "I knew that bitch was crazy." She muttered under her breath. Lorna had told them about Selene earlier when the group were catching each other up on what had happened over the time they had been separated. Needless to say John was less than thrilled at the idea of a new player emerging this late in the game. Especially one they knew so little about.

"So her power is what exactly? Turning people to dust?" Caitlin asked apprehensively.

"Looks like it." John answered. That feeling of doom only increased. That was going to be a tough power to combat.

"I don't like the sound of that." Lauren said biting at her nails.

John could see the panic beginning to build in the room and John swore that he could feel the hope that had come with their reunion slowly slinking towards the exit. He knew he had to inspire some confidence or they would never stand a chance against the Inner Circle. "Look guys, I know this isn't the most ideal of situations. We're up against a group of powerful mutants, and they have more resources and now on top of that this Selene woman has the power to turn a person... well to obliterate them. I know how hopeless it must seem. But if there is one thing I have learnt it's that nothing is ever truly hopeless. Every mutant has a weakness. The fact that Selene locked the Purifiers in the room tells us that she needs to at the very least be in the same vicinity as her target. And with a lot of powers like her's it often also requires physical contact."

"So you're saying we should just stay out of her arms reach?" Lorna cut in doubtfully.

John shook his head. "I'm saying we shouldn't even go into the same building as her." He was met by a whole room full of confused expressions. Sighing he continued to explain his plan. "Look as I said I know that they have some really powerful mutants on their side, but so do we. Afterall Selene's not the only one who can turn something to dust." John said looking pointedly at the Strucker kids. At that moment most of the group seemed to catch on to what he was thinking, He saw Marcos raise an eyebrow and Lorna had a slow smile spreading across her face. The Strucker kids both had looks of realisation in their eyes as they looked to each other. But Caitlin and Reed still looked somewhat confused.

"Ok I'm still confused." Caitlin admitted. "What exactly are you saying? What's the plan here?"

"I'm talking about taking the fight to them. Catching them off guard." John answered trying to sound confident.

"John's right we need to make a move on them now, in less than 24 hours they plan on taking out Sentinel Services and then the whole dang government. Thousands of innocent people will be dead." Lorna urged.

"So we're just gonna attack? Last I heard, they were in a fortress." Caitlin protested.

"Well, we didn't have the power to attack a fortress before. Now we do." Marcos pointed out as Lauren nodded her affirmation at Andy's questioning look. Clearly indicating that they understood and were on board. "If they can take down the Inner Circle headquarters..." Marcos continued before Reed cut across him.

"Wait. You want Andy and Lauren to destroy a high-rise?" He asked looking shocked.

"God knows I am all for bringing down the Inner Circle, but there has to be another way that doesn't involve Andy and Lauren destroying an entire building." Caitlin tried to reason.

"There is no other way." John told them firmly. "If we do this, we don't lose anyone else here." Like they had Clarice, Shatter, Sonya, Gus and so many others over the years. None of them were far from his thoughts as he contemplated the task in front of them. Looking around at the others he too could see that they were remembering the lost ones too.

"It's true. And we can't afford to wait." Lorna stated.

But Caitlin and Reed still looked uncertain. "It's too much." Caitlin determined shaking her head.

John was almost resigned when Lauren piped up from next to Andy. "It's all right."

"I think we can do it." Andy continued confidently.

"Are you sure?" Reed questioned still looking a little uncertain. But still John felt a little hope that they were coming around.

Lauren nodded. "In a way, I feel like we've been preparing for this for a long time." She explained looking thoughful.

"We can stop them." Andy asserted. "We have this power, we might as well use it for something good."

A feeling of hopefullness and determination filled the room. It would all end today one way or another but finally after months of grief, anger and loss they were all on the same side again and for once they had a plan and a team to implement it. Just maybe this time they'd win.

**Inner Circle Headquarters**

**Esme's POV**

She rushed down the hall and back to where the rest of the group were standing. They all looked round at her as she approached. "It's what we thought. Lorna and Andrew went back to the Mutant Underground." She informed them, nervous of Selene and Reeva's reactions. She could see that Reeva was beyond angry, she was visibly fuming. Esme was surprised to see, however, that Selene didn't seem that bothered by the news in fact she actually looked rather bored.

"Well, that's disappointing, not all that surprising, but disappointing. Still we must move forward with our plans." Selene comented lazily."

"But how, Lorna and Andy..." Heather began."

"Their loss is a setback but they can be replaced." Reeva cut across her. "Lorna was going to deal with communications, it isn't as elegant but the same can be done with explosives. Heather and Tico you will take care of that. Andrew's part of the plan will need to change too. We have some arrangments to make but rest assured things will move forward." It was a dismissal and so they all dispersed. As they were walking away Selene and Reeva caught up with Esme and Sophie.

"Girls we have a special task for you. We need you to get Fade and then go to Westlake Apartments. Use your abilities to persuade Lauren and Andy to use Fenris to bring down Sentinel Services." Selene commanded them. Esme looked quickly at her sister. Selene must have caught the doubt in Esme's expression because she asked "Is there a problem?"

"Oh no, it's just...it might be a little hard for us to control them fully with just the two of us, especially if they resist.

"I have complete faith in you both, I trust that you will get this done for us." Reeva replied looking right in Esme's eyes.

"Of course we can, you can count on us, right Esme." Sophie answered sending her sister a look that was both warning and threatening.

"I mean we'll try our hardest. But there's also the concern that forcing them to use their powers like that might cause them to snap, they could have a stroke." Esme tried to explain. She knew she was treading on dangerous ground but something about forcing two teenagers to commit such a violent act against their will didn't sit right with her.

_Hey what are you doing? Stop arguing with them or you're going to get us all killed._ She heard Sophie's voice chastise her through their linked minds. _What is wrong with you?_ But that was the thing Esme didn't know what was wrong with her. All she knew was that with each passing day she was feeling less and less comfortable with what she and the rest of the Inner Circle were doing. But she still believed in the dream of the Mutant Homeland, didn't she? She still beleived in Reeva, the woman who had taken Esme and her sisters under her wing and had become a kind of maternal figure to them. Right? She was just getting cold feet, she just needed to shake this funk off. It was probably just nerves and adrenaline from being so close to completing their goal.

"So long as the job get done." Reeva answered coldly. "Esme do I have reason to be concerned..."

"Of course not." Esme hurriedly reassured her. "I apologise. I just want to make sure that nothing goes wrong, be prepared for all eventualities. But rest assured we will get the job done." Reeva seemed satisfied by her answer and once again returned to smiling at Esme. But as she and Sophie turned away and set off down the corrider in search of Fade, Esme could feel Selene's eyes buring into her back. She didn't dare look back instead keeping her focus straight ahead of her.

**Westlake Apartments**

**John POV**

Adrenaline was running through John's body making his heart beat faster. It was almost time. John knew he should probably be afraid or nervous. Afterall this was a huge thing they were planning, a dangerous thing, with so many things that could go wrong. And yes a part of him was afraid. Afraid for his friends, his family. He couldn't lose anyone else. But he had no fear for himself. He remembered when he was held captive by the Purifiers, that moment when Jace Turner held a gun to his head, a look of loathing in his eyes. John knew the shot would kill him, at that close range and with him in such a weakened state, there was no doubt. He knew fear then. Fear that he was never going to see Clarice again. That he was never going to be able to apologise to her for the things he had said. Fear that he would never be able to hold her again, or kiss her or even see her smile. Fear that he'd never get the chance to tell her he loved her. By some miracle he had got out of there alive. He had her in his arms again and yet somehow he let her slip away again. This time she was gone forever, just like Gus, just like Sonya, just like Shatter, just like Sage, just like everyone. No there was no fear in John's heart only vengence.

"So are we all happy with the plan?" Marcos' voice broke through John's thought's. John looked back down at the plan he, Marcos and Lorna were looking over. Lorna had drawn out the layout of the building as best as she could so they had a pretty good idea of where everything was. However there were some areas of the building that required security clearence that she didn't have so there were a couple of unknowns, like what was in the basement for example. Yet as John pointed out it didn't really matter all that much considering the plan was to just take down the whole building. John, Lorna and Marcos would create a distraction out the front, hopefully keeping the attention on them, meanwhile the Struckers would sneak round the back and take down the building using Fenris.

"How are the Strucker getting on? Are they nearly back?" John asked. They had come to the decision to make one more run with some of the Morlocks. Who knew when they'd be able to move any more of them again. So Reed and Caitlin had driven two van loads to Arcadia where some Morlocks from St Petersberg would meet them and take them the rest of the way. The Morlocks from St Petersberg also had some medical supplies which John knew they were likely going to need. Mission this dangerous, yeah some of them were likely going to end up with injuries that will need to be treated. The round trip was going to take around 3 hours and it had been about that long so the Struckers should return soon. Lauren and Andy had stayed downstairs to pack up their apartment as it was unlikely they would be coming back here. Meanwhile after packing their own things Marcos, John and Lorna had sat together to come up with a more detailed plan on how to move forward.

"Reed checked in not long ago to say they were nearly home. They should be back..." Lorna began her explaination but then the door slammed open.

Jumping up from their seats they took defensive stances but it was just Reed and Caitlin though they did look flustered and out of breath. "They're gone! Andy and Lauren are gone!" Caitlin gasped out with a voice filled with worry and a parent's fear. John felt like a cold bucket of water had just been tossed over him.

"It looks like there was a struggle." Reed continued sounding just as scared as his wife. "Can you track them?" He asked John looking at him pleadingly.

John nodded already heading for the door. "I'll try ok." He promised as they set off to the downstairs apartment. Once there he placed his hand to the floor and tried to focus. But once again he was flooded with images of Clarice, he tried to shake his head to clear the images away and once again tried to focus. Frustration and grief were writhing through him, sitting in his throat and chest.

"Is there anything? Do you see them?" Caitlin asked distressed.

"I'm still having trouble tracking." John replied letting out a sigh. And trying to focus again, once again Clarice was standing before him a smile was on her face as she looked lovingly at him. "I'm seeing Clarice everywhere." He explained his voice strained. He rubbed his forehead trying to rub the niggling pain of a headache away. "I'm trying, but..." He once again tried to focus on what had happened in the room, on the imprints that where left behind but Clarice continued to haunt him. Just when he was about to reach breaking point and give up he got a quick flash of the Frost Sisters and Fade. "Frost sisters were here." He informed the room as he stood back up from his crouched position. "And Fade."

"God, I hate that guy." Reed exclaimed, looking angry.

"Reeva's plan depends on destroying Sentinel Service Headquarters. If she's got Andy and Lauren..." Nobody needed Lorna to finish the sentence to understand exactly what the Inner Circle planned for Lauren and Andy.

"We have to get to them." Caitlin pleaded desperately. She had a distraught look in her eyes.

"We will Caitlin." John reassured her. "But we need to go now. Maybe we can intercept them at Sentinel Services. We can still do this guys."

They all piled into the car, with Caitlin driving. Reed was in the front passenger seat with John, Marcos and Lorna in the back. They were all looking out of the windows keeping a sharp eye out for any cops, sentinel serivces, or purifiers. There were still alot of people out there hunting for them.

"No cops yet." Caitlin stated sounding reliefed.

"Let's hope our luck holds out till we get to Sentinel Services." Marcos replied still looking around nervously.

"They're using the Morlock tunnels to get around the city." Lorna informed them leaning forward in her seat towards Caitlin. "There are some steam grates at Elm and 15th."

Caitlin nodded her head gripping the "Okay, I'll head that way." John turned to look out the window again when he heard Caitlin whisper to Reed. "Are you all right?"

"I just can't stop it." Reed answered axiously. Looking over John could see that Reed's hands were glowing red again. Marcos had told him that Reed had come off of the serum and was trying to control his powers on his own. John was glad that Reed was starting to accept his powers but he couldn't help but be worried about Reed considering all the stress he was under right now.

"It's okay." John heard Caitlin reassure him. "We're going to get them back." Caitlin told Reed with conviction. John hoped she was right, he hoped that they would get Lauren and Andy back and he hoped they got there in time. Sighing he closed his eyes and lent his head against taking comfort in the darkness, occasionally coloured dots would dance across his eyelids as the sunlight shone onto his closed eyelids. Then suddenly he saw Clarice again stuck in her swirling portal, fear on her face and his name on her lips, she was again reaching out to him as the blood seeped into her clothing.

John sat bolt upright again, eyes wide open. The others looked around at him surprised. "Hey John, are you ok?" Marcos asked worriedly looking between John's face and his hands. Looking down John saw that his hands were visibly trembling. He let out a shaky breath and tried to calm himself.

"Yeah...Yeah I'm fine." John tried to reassure them all knowing that none of them were convinced. He could see them all continuing to shoot worried looks at him but none of them said anything again. John turned back to looking out the window. He tried to reason that he was being overdramatic. That this vision was no different than all the others he had been seeing since he lost Clarice. But this image was different. Everytime he had seen Clarice before it was where she had left an imprint behind, they were more like memories. John could match each image of Clarice up with a memory of her. But this one of her in the portal was different because he knew it wasn't a memory. Maybe it was his grief causing his imagination to kick into overdrive. But a part of him couldn't help but wonder. Was Clarice really dead? Or was she trapped in one of her portals somewhere? Did she need him to find her? Was this her way of reaching out to him? Could he hope or was he just in denial.

**Esme's POV**

She could feel the constant pressure of Andy and Lauren's minds pushing back at hers as she and Sophie forced them to continue walking. Gritting her teeth and trying not to show just how much she was struggling to maintain control over the two siblings she informed them. "We're almost there. It's just around the corner." She felt relieved, it was almost over.

"No." Lauren groaned out the pain evident in her voice.

"Please." Begged her brother.

Esme tried to push away the growing feeling of guilt. Pushing harder into their minds she felt her eyes burn brighter. "Stop resisting."

But Lauren and Andy continued to fight against them, she could feel her sister's irritation growing, "I suggest you behave. Or we'll make you behave." Sophie threatened them. "Stop resisting, Stop resisting." Esme joined in her sister's mantra, forcing the teens to their knees.

"What do you want from us?" Lauren inquired tiredly.

Esme felt another stab of guilt as she looked into Lauren's eyes and saw the pain and weariness there. "We just need some help destroying a building. Please, don't make us force you." Esme answered softer, almost pleading with them. "It'll go easier, if you cooperate." She tried reasoning with them, still feeling unsure about the situation.

"But if you'd rather do it the hard way, that'll work, too." Sophie threatend with a twisted sound of glee in her voice. It sounded almost like she was hoping they would resist, that she wanted to hurt him, like she took pleasure from it. This unsettled Esme further.

Then Lauren looked Esme right in the eye. "I thought the whole point of doing this was to help mutants. This is mutant freedom? Forcing us?" Esme felt her hold on their minds slip a little at the younger girls words. Her guilt was beginning to consume her, they shouldn't be doing this.

"We don't see it as forcing." Sophie cut in. "Sometimes, people just need a little help seeing the light. So we show it to them." Esme felt her sister push her will down hard on to the Struckers and she felt their pain and the tiny fissures spread through their brains. She heard both teens groan out their pain.

Feeling suddenly panicked Esme turned to her sister. "Wait." She insisted.

"What is it?" Her sister's irritation was obvious.

"You know what happens if we keep pushing them like this." Esme pleaded with her sister.

"I let you try to reason with them." Sophie replied scathingly. "They made their choice."

"W-We'll break them." Esme pointed out her voice shaking. She had vision of the two teens laying with vacant eyes and blank expressions, their brains no longer able to function properly. "They might never recover." She voiced her concern.

"It's not like Reeva's gonna let them live after what they did." Sophie replied nonchalantly. "They might as well be useful." Esme felt alarm crackle through her. Deep down she suppose she must have known that Reeva wouldn't let them live but for some reason hearing her sister say out loud perturbed her. Nothing about the situation felt right to her anymore, she could feel the monsters, doubt and guilt fighting within her. It wasn't right to be forcing two young kids to commit such a horrifc act. She couldn't help but flashback to their time in the lab. When they were forced to commit horrifying atrocities onto others, was this really any different? Her sister's voice cut into her thoughts again. "Now, let's get this over with. Get up." She commanded the Struckers.

Her sister must have sensed her hesitation because she heard her reach out through their own telepathic link._ Hey focus ok. Remember it's them or us. Don't forget that Phoebe is still with Reeva and Selene, what do you think they'll do to her if we fail?_ And suddenly Esme was remembering all the times they had been threatened with that, how many times they had been told that if they didn't do what they were told the two of them that had been kept behind would be killed. She remembered the one time they finally defied them and escaped. She remembered feeling her sisters, Celeste and Mindy's pain, feeling them die. Sophie was right, Esme might not feel entirely comfortable with this but it was them or us. So she pushed harder into the Strucker's minds forcing them back to their feet.

Soon they were outside of Sentinel Services. "It's time." Esme told the Struckers. Pushing the little stab of guilt away. Just one more job, it was nearly over.

"You know what you're here for." Sophie said giving their minds another push.

"Please. Please don't make us do this." Lauren begged tears welling up in her eyes. Once again Esme felt her resolve slipping and with it her control over them. But her sister only pushed more fiercely causing Lauren to cry out in a pain.

"Hey, you're hurting her!" Andy cried out angrily, worried."

"Then she should stop resisting." Sophie answered callously. Before she direted her gaze to Esme. She knew that Esme wasn't using as much force as was needed. "Esme, waiting for something?"

Sighing Esme looked up at the building before them, thought about how many mutants had been captured and tourtured by these people. It gave her the anger and push that she needed, she focussed on Lauren and Andy's minds taking a tighter hold over them. "Time to hold hands." She and Sophie commanded together. Esme watched as their hands inched towards each other before they finally linked. "Good. Now, just relax and let go." Esme could feel their powers warm glow as it grew. The brighter it got the hotter it became. Once the light of their power was blinding Esme and Phoebe gave one last push, past the Strucker's last resistence and their power flew towards the building.

It was a strange sight. The white glow of their power was kinda of beautiful. It reminded Esme of angels it looked heavenly, but as it came into contact with the building the concrete and glass of the windows dissolved into nothingness. It was as if nothing had ever been there, by the time the light faded what was an left was a hellish image. All that was left was the steel husk of the building. It looked like it had been desimated by a raging fire. In just a few seconds the once imposing building was nothing but a shell. Despite knowing they were bad people Esme couldn't help but feel horrifed at the sight, at the knowledge that hundreds of people were now dead and it was their doing. Meanwhile her sister beside her was staring at the carnage with delight, she was practically bouncing for joy.

Lauren and Andy were both staring at the building in devastation. Esme once again tried to push the guilt away. "We should get out of here. Before the cops get here." She told her sister, in truth her desire had less to do with the possibilty of the authorities finding them and more to do with not wanting to look at the building any more. They once again took control over The Struckers minds forcing them to walk back down the stairs to the tunnels. Once they had reached the bottom they turned the corner and suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Esme felt their link with the Struckers snap. Then she felt something hot slam into her chest and felt herself falling, then her world went blank.

**John's POV**

John suddenly held a hand up for silence and the group suddenly fell quiet all looking at him. They were in the tunnels under the Sentinel Services and John felt his heart sink as he heard the screams and sirens coming from the street above. They were too late. Focussing his hearing more her heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Crouching down he put his hand to the ground and tried to get a picture of what was going on. The moment he tapped into his tracking ability Clarice once again appeared before him. Once again she was in the swirling portal reaching for him. He was hit by the feel of her presence more strongly then he ever had since he lost her. It almost felt like she was standing in that tunnel with them. He clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath. Then tried pushing past the image. He caught glimpses of the street above, of the steel shell of a building that looked like it had been destroyed by a fire. He saw people running about and screaming, police and fire engines were appearing on the scene. Shifting his focus to the stairs he saw the Frost sisters and the Strucker kids making there way down into the tunnel. Andy and Lauren were bleeding from their ears and noses and looked pale and weak.

Standing back up he turned to the others. "They're right up ahead, they just coming down the stairs. Andy and Lauren don't look like they're in great shape." He informed them as gently as he could.

Caitlin started pacing back and forth wringing her hands, "We have to get them back."

"We will but we need to take out the Frosts to do that." Lorna replied.

"I could stun them. If we catch them by surprise they won't have time to defend themselves." Marcos suggested.

"An ambush? That'll work." John nodded. "Ok we can use the bend in the tunnel. Stay low and stay quiet. Once they turn the corner Marcos you stun them. Caitlin and I will grab Andy and Lorna and Reed can grab Lauren. They're going to need to people supporting them to stay upright. We'll get to that service tunnel there, it looks from the inside and we can treat them there." Everyone nodded in agreement and they all got into their positions. A few moments later the Frosts came around the corner. Before they could react Marcos sent a stun blast at them whilst the rest of the group covered their eyes. Slowly blinking open his eyes John tried to see through the coloured spots dancing before his vision and reached for Andy pulling his arm around his shoulders and supporting most of his weight. Looking down John saw that the Frost sisters were laying unconcious on the ground but he could still hear both their hearts beating.

The group made their way haphazardly towards the service tunnel making their way inside they lowered the two siblings so that they were sitting on the ground resting up against the wall. Marcos pulled the door shut behind them and locked it. John couldn't help but feel worried about the two young Struckers. They both looked very weak and their complexions were pasty white. It made the red of the blood running from their noses and ears all the more vivid. John took some comfort though in that both their heartbeats were strong. Caitlin was fussing over them both, checking them over and cleaning the blood away. They both were very quiet, clearly struggle to hold onto conciousness.

"Esme told me a little about how their powers work." Lorna said. "When they force people to do things that go against everything they care about... it... um it causes damage." She explained looking at Lauren and Andy worriedly.

"When they tried to make me leave the Inner Circle, dragging me away from our daughter, it was like my brain was in a vice." Marcos added. "I think they're lucky to be alive." His words hung in the air as the weight of that knowledge hit them all. They could have lost the kids today. It showed the true lengths the Inner Circle was willing to go. Everyone knew that they were willing to kill and hurt people to get what they wanted but to be willing to hurt or even kill two teenage kids was a whole other level. It just made John all the more determined to stop them.

"Mom, Dad, I'm...I'm so sorry." Lauren whispered weakly, grief and guilt straining her voice.

"What are you sorry for?" Caitlin asked baffeld.

"The building." Andy continued. "We destroyed it." It was something John had already figured out but still hearing it at loud sent a stab of failure through him. He knew this was only going to make the hostility towards Mutants worse, but it wasn't Andy or Lauren's faults and to hear the guilt in their voices made John all the more angry at the Inner Circle and what they had done to these two kids. He wanted to tell them it was ok but somehow couldn't get the words out.

"All those people." Lauren lamented tears in her eyes.

Caitlin too had tears in her eyes as she tried to comfort her children. "No, that...That was not your fault. You didn't do anything. You didn't have control of your powers." She told them desperate for them to believe her. To bring them some kind of peace in all this horror.

"We know how hard you fought." Reed reassured them placing a gentle hand on Lauren's shoulder. "I've never been prouder of you both."

John didn't want to interrupt them but he also knew that they were on borrowed time. They needed to act now if they were going to stop the Inner Circle. Just as he was steeling himself up to say something Lorna beat him to it. "We need to move." She pointed out bluntly. Though looking at her John could see that she wasn't unaffected by what had happened.

"They are in no shape to fight." Caitlin argued. "They can barely even walk."

John put a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "I know your worried and that this is distressing for you but Lorna is right we have to move now, we can't afford to lose any more time." He explained to her as gently as possible.

"We can drop them off at the scrapyard." Marcos suggested.

"We can't just leave them there!" Caitlin exclaimed still distressed.

"Cait, I hate it, too." Reed placated his wife. "But they will never be safe while the Inner Circle is out there. If we don't stop them now, we might never get the chance." John could see that her husbands words had made it through to her and she slowly nodded her head. Together they helped Andy and Lauren to their feet and supporting most of their weight aided them to the car which was thankfully fairly nearby. It was a tight fit but they all managed to squeeze in. This time John drove all the while trying to ignore the growing tension in the car.

**Esme's POV**

It hurt. She groaned as she slowly blinked her eyes open. She could hear a voice nearby calling her name and someone's hand on her shoulder. She reached up to rub at the ache in her chest as she slowly rolled onto her back looking up into the identical face of her sister. She tried to piece her memory back together and figure out what had led to her laying on the cold concrete floor. She remembered leading the Strucker kids to the Sentinel Services. She remembered the look in Lauren's face as she asked if this was Mutant freedom. She remembered forcing them to use their powers to destroy the building, she remembered the screams and the sirens and then she remembered the blinding white light and the pain in her chest. "Let me guess, The Mutant Underground and Marcos?" She asked of her sister.

Her sister's angry expression said it all. "Obviously and they took the Struckers." She confirmed angrily. "They are gonna be so pissed with us." Esme didn't need to ask who Sophie was referring to, Reeva and Selene definitely weren't going to happy at the news that they had let the Struckers get away.

"Maybe it will be ok." She tried to reassure not just Sophie but herself. "I mean at least its not all bad news we got the job done."

"Yeah about that what the hell was going on with you?" Sophie demanded still with that anger.

"What do you mean?" Esme asked even though she knew her sister was referring to Esme's reluctance.

"You didn't seem to want to go through with it. Destroying Sentinel Services."

"I was just worried about pushing the Sturckers too hard before they could complete the task." Esme tried to bluff.

"No that's not it you're having doubts." Sophie accused looking Esme right in the eyes. "You know you can't lie to me, we're linked." She looked even angrier now.

"No...No I still believe in the Mutant Homeland. I still want it." She disputed, not sure if she was trying to convince Sophie or herself. Sophie's gaze was burning into her. She didn't look at all convinced in fact she only looked more suspicious. Giving up the pretense a little Esme tried to reason with her sister. "It's just...Have you...Have you ever wondered if there was another way. A way to get what we want but without killing and hurting people? Without having to force them against their will?" Esme looked up at Sophie and saw that she looked both irritated but confused.

"But this is what we do, It's what we are." Sophie answered shrugging her shoulders.

She made it sound simple but it wasn't enough for Esme. "No it's what they wanted us to be. What they forced us to be. But we have a choice, we can be what we decide we want to be. I want to be myself, I want to make my own choices. I want to be my own person." She argued back passionately. But looking into her sister's eyes she could see that her words had no impact. She only looked angry.

"You've spent too much time with the Underground, it's fill your head with naive ideas, it really did make you soft. We are what we were made to be. We aren't our own person, we're 3 in 1, a unit. There is no I, Esme, there's only us. You are nothing without us, don't ever forget that. So get your act together because I'm not going to get killed because you can't accept the truth." Sophie rebuked her shaking her head. She gave Esme one more look of disgust then turned away with one last scathing statement. "We need to ring Reeva and update her. I'll let you do the honours seeing as it was your weakness that led to us losing them in the first place."

Sighing and feeling resigned Esme pulled her phone out of her pocket and after taking a moment to gather her courage dialed Reeva's number.

She picked up immediately. "Well?" She asked simply.

Taking a deep breath Esme began to explain. "Well its a good news bad news kinda situation. The good news is we got the job done. The Struckers completely destroyed the building and Sentinel Services has been nuetralised." She informed Reeva hurriedly wanting to get through it as quickly as possible.

"And the bad news?" Reeve inquired after a short pause.

Taking a second steadying breath Esme confessed. "The Mutant Underground ambushed us as we were heading back, Marcos knocked us out with some kind of stun shot and they took the Struckers." She was met with silence for several long moments.

"Well while that's not ideal at least you got the job done. Well done girls. Head on back we've still got work to do." Esme felt relief flood her at Reeva's words. It didn't seem as if she was angry after all.

"Of course Reeva, we're on our way to you now." Esme hung up the phone looking back to Sophie who was still sulking silently. "Reeva wants us to go meet her. She didn't seem angry about the Struckers, just glad that we got the job done so..." Her sister didn't acknowledge her at all. Esme sighed hating that her sister was angry with her. "We need to go Reeva said there's still work to do."

"Right are you sure you still want to go through with it or are you going to continue preaching on about you don't want to hurt all the poor little humans." Sophie mocked her.

"Look Soph I'm sorry ok I..."

"Because you know what Esme this is a war. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to get what you want. So you need to be all in and rememeber that it's us or them." Sophie glared at her one last time before turning her back again.

"Look I know Soph, it was just a moment of doubt, chalk it up to nerves. I'm all in I promise." Esme tried to placate her sister wanting her to forgive her.

"Good" Sophie replied coldly. "Now lets go." Sophie turned and started walking away. Sighing again Esme followed behind, walking in her sister's shadow.

**John's POV**

After dropping Andy and Lauren back at the scrap yard and making sure they were comfortable, they said their goodbyes promising they would see them again soon. Caitlin and Reed held the tightly and kissed them. As the group walked away from the two kids John couldn't help but wonder if they were lying, would they all really see them again soon. Or would some of them never return. He knew it was a distinct possibility that not all of them would be coming back. Pushing the thought away John had climbed into the driver's seat.

It didn't take long to reach the building and yet it seemed to take forever. They all looked up at the imposing building contemplating the task before them. John squared his shoulders and straightened his spine. Ok this was it, time to get the job done. He thought to himself as he crouched down, he put his hand to the ground and tried to focus on the top floors of the building before him. Locating where each member of the Inner Circle was was an important factor in the success of their mission. But as expected the moment John tried to track Clarice's image appeared before him. He sighed and pushed the image away. Please babe, I need to do this. Let me go, just for a moment. He begged her in his head, though he wasn't sure why, it's not like she could hear him right? But then suddenly for the first time since he lost her her image dissolved away and he had a clear view of his surroundings. Almost like she had heard him.

Letting his senses expand he reached out into the building searching for their targets. But there was something wrong. He couldn't find any of them. He looked harder searching every inch of the building, floor by floor, room by room. But there was no sign of Reeva, Selene or anyone else from the Inner Circle. He stood up abruptly turning to the rest of the group. "We've got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Lorna demanded to know sounding worried.

John shook his head. "They're not here."

"What do you mean they're not here? They have to be." Marcos asked a hint of panic in his voice.

John shook his head again. "Are you sure John? Can you check again?" Reed asked his hands starting to glow red.

"I'm telling you they're not here. I triple checked every inch of the building. No one from the Inner Circle is in that building. I was able to track their movements it looks like they all headed down to the car garage and rode out but I couldn't track their cars very far there was just too much traffic." John explained feeling his stress levels rise.

"No John they have to be here, where else would they...?" Lorna was cut off as there was a loud BOOM in the distance. The ground beneath them vibrated and the windows in the surrounding shops shook then shattered. The glass rained to the pavement. People started to scream and children started to cry. Looking round they saw a mushroom cloud of thick black smoke looming over the horizon. All around them people were running. Others were clinging to each other crying. It was chaos. A scene of confusion and fear. Before anyone could gather their thoughts the ground rattled again as a second explosion was heard more windows blew out. The air was filled with the sounds of screams, cries and sirens.

John put a shaking hand back to the ground and reached out trying to get an idea of what was happening. But it was impossible to see past all the people. Crowds of them running, crowds of them standing just staring at the skyline in disbelief. Strangers clinging to each other. People on their knees praying. And smoke. Thick black smoke. Suffocating. John pulled his hand away. Turning to the others he could see the disbelief and horror on all their faces. They all knew what must have happened, that this was to do with the Inner Circle. But none of them wanted to accept it.

Then John was swamped with memories, suddenly he was no longer here, he was far away in a hotter climate with Gus and his other comrades at his side and sand instead of cement below his feet. He heard the explosion again, heard someone call out for them to take cover. Gunshots, bullets hitting metal, brick, flesh. The scent of smoke and blood clung in the air. The screams of pain and the barking of orders. He felt his heartrate pounding in his chest. His breaths coming quicker and quicker as he began to hyperventilate. He saw his father yelling at him to run as a red energy ball enveloped him. Then the image of Gus laying in a street surrounded by debris from the explosion. Scorch marks marking the pavement beneath his broken body and ash marking his face, His trembling hand in John's and his weakening heartbeat as he struggled to push his words past his lips. The light leaving his eyes and his blank vacant stare as his last breath slipped from his lungs. Clarice smiling when from the other side of her portal, the sound of bullets tearing into her body. The feel of her blood wet and warm and sticky on his face. Her look of pained surprise as she fell into the swirling mass of her portal slipping away from him forever. The image of her reaching out to him trapped and bleeding. All of his worst memories swam around his mind as he fought to find his way back to reality, pushing the images away, only to be met with equal horror there.

More and more people were gathering in the street. John began to come to his senses again. Pushing away memories of smoke and sand and dust and screaming comrades and lost loved ones, he gathered his thoughts. It wasn't safe for them to be in the streets right now. They had to get out of here. Struggling to slow his breathing and calm himslef he got the attention of the others. "We have to get out of here now. It's not safe. We need to get back to the scrap yard and regroup." He took charge. Tugging on their arms to get them walking back to the car.

The journey back to the scrap yard was slow. There was a lot of people in the streets and alot of them were standing in the road. John had use the car horn often. They had to redirect several times due to roads being cornered off there was also a lot of broken glass to navigate around but eventually after a tense journey they made it back. They found Lauren and Andy in the backm room. They had turned the tv on and on its screen was a chilling image. The White House, a familiar sight. Only now it had smoke billowing out of its roof. There were police officers there but they were position back from the building. The group gathered around the tv to liten to the news report.

"It is unclear on what exactly has taken place, but we can confirm that there seems to have been a three wave attack here in Washington. Two hours ago the first target was hit. Sentinel Service Offices were destroyed in what was believed to be a mutant attack." As the reporter spoke the image on tv switched from the white house to the charred remains of the Sentinel Services building. "Witnesses reported seeing a bright white light fly towards the building before it simply crumbled away leaving nothing but the steel infrastructure behind. Less than 30 minutes later a huge explosion was set off from underneath the White House. Only a few moments later a second explosion was reported from the Pentagon. It is believed that these two attacks were also actions of Mutant terroists likely the same group who are responsible for the attack at the church last night, however this has not been confirmed at this time. A police force entered the White House but all contact was lost with them, due to this development the authorites have fallen back but have set up a perimeter around both the White House and the Pentagon. There is no word of those who were inside the buildings at the time of the attacks, what we do know is that the President was not inside the White House and is safe at a secure location outside of Washington. We also have no information on casualties but we can expect the loss of life to be high. We will update you with more information as we learn it. For now we keep those who are trapped at the centre of these attacks and their families in our prayers and ask that viewers stay inside and remain calm and vigilant. Thank you." The reporter finished solemnly.

"How did this happen. It wasn't suppose to happen like this." Lorna muttered, shaking her head while staring wide eyed at the tv screen. "This wasn't the plan, it wasn't suppose to happen until tonight, we were suppose to have more time." Marcos moved to pull Lorna into a tight embrace while she rambled clearly distraught. The Struckers also huddled together as they all tried to make sense of what had happened. What it meant, What would happen next.

Meanwhile John was trying to fight off another flashback. It had been years since he last had one. He used to get them nightly when he first returned from Afghanistan. He'd wake up drenched in sweat and screaming trapped in his own nightmare. It would take hours for his parents to calm him down and convince him that he was home and safe. They weren't here now. He fought against the loniless that was building, threantening to drown him. He missed his parents and his brother, he missed Gus. He missed Sonya and god he missed Clarice. He wanted her here with him. He wanted to take her into his arms and bury his face into her hair. He wanted to hear her soft words of comfort and feel her fingers running through his hair. But she wasn't here so he did the next best thing. He closed his eyes and imagined she was. And he saw he could feel her there. He could smell her shampoo and feel her touch. Hell he could hear her voice telling him it was going to be ok, that they were going to figure it out together. It was in that moment that he knew that he was never going to be able to move on from her, that he would be haunted by the memory of her, that it would never fade. And he realised that he didn't want to be free of the ghost of her, he wanted to cling to each little memory he had with her. Sighing he opened his eyes again and looked around at the group. They all looked so defeated. He knew he should say something, something to try and lift their spirits, make things seem less dire. But what could he possibly say to make this better. What could be said to lessen this horror. There was nothing. So John just sighed and said, "We should get some rest. There's nothing we can do to help tonight."

The group slowly dispersed finding a spot to curl up together and attempt to get some sleep, all of them were both physically and emotionally exhausted. John however didn't move from his spot. They had failed. They had tried but in the end the Inner Circle had been one step ahead of them. John was unsure of what the future would hold but he knew one thing, they would be waking up to a very different world. A wet nose was pushed into his hand. Looking down he saw Zingo nuzzling at his hand and whinning softly. John felt a small smile curl at the corners of his mouth. He knelt down and ruffled the fur on Zingos head. "Hey girl." He whispered softly. Zingo continued to whine moving to lean aginst him. "I know, I miss her too." He sighed standing he moved to the sofa, laying down and closing his eyes he felt Zingo jumo up and curl up next to him. He took comfort in the warmth of her an buried his fingers in her fur keeping a loose grip.

Nobody really slept despite their exhaustion. John could hear them all tossing and turning. Sighing and occasional crying. There were some whispered conversations until eventually they all gave up on the idea of sleep and once again gathered around the tv screen. Caitlin threw together some breakfast for them all but none of them really ate. Instead they turned their attention back to the news reports, trying to desperately get some idea of what had happened, what was still happening. They needed to figure out what their next move was but they were all at a loss. John turned his attention to the reporter on the screen.

"We are joined now but the former head of security, Mr Adams I think what a lot of people want to know right now is what the police force will do next, how they will proceed and what advice can you give the American Citizens watching at home?" The reporter asked her guest who was a large muscular man with greying hair.

"Well its a hard truth to tell unfortunately but there isn't alot the police force can do at this point. They just don't have the experience or resources to deal with a Mutant attack of this magnitude that is Sentinel Services area. Sentinel Services was formed in the aftermath of 7/15 for this very purpose to deal with Mutant incidences. In situations of Mutant agression the police had one intruction, secure the area and call Sentinel Services. So in this situation all they can really do is secure the area as there is no Sentinel Services to call for help. I will say that these Mutant Terroists knew what they were doing. It was a meticulously planned out attack. They knew to take out Sentinel Services first. Knew that it would take away our one real defense against Mutants. They targeted the heads of the government, the military and the mutant defence system, make no mistake this is a takeover. They made sure that there was no one for us to call for help." The man explained it all solemnly and grave look on his face.

The reporter nodded her head looking emotional, she was clearly struggling to keep her composure through the report. "And what advice can you give to our viewers?" She asked managing to keep her voice fairly steady.

"Well I would say try to stay calm and more importantly stay inside. If you are worried about a loved one there is a number below that you can call for information. Keep your tv on to keep up to date with information and follow the instructions of any police personel."

"Thank you Mr Adams. We do have some new information for you. As of right now it has been reported that there are 432 confirmed deaths including all 327 employees that were inside the Sentinel Services building when it was destroyed in the first wave of this horiffic attack, there are also over 700 injured across the city. We've been told to expect those numbers to increase. As of right now there is still no word from within the White House, no one has come forward claiming responsibilty or demanding terms it is still very much a dark spot but as we learn more we will update you. For now we ask that you keep those caught in the attack and the families of those who we have lost in your thoughts and prayers. Our gratitude goes out to the emergency service personel who are working tirelessly to help those in need. Stay safe folks."

Silence reigned once again as the report finished and images of the three buildings involved in the attack were shown on the screen again. The Sentinel Services building was the calmest of the three scenes. Though there were still a few police officers floating around it seemed the area had been cleared and the main bulk of the emergency services had been redirected to the other locations. Afterall it was obvious looking at the building that there was no one left there to safe. As the news report had confirmed no one could have survived it. A large crowd of residents had gathered around the building all carrying candles, a vigil. Hundreds of boquets of flowers and notes had been laid on the ground before the building in memory of the hundreds of lifes that had been lost. John felt a tight knot form in his chest as he took in the scene. He couldn't help but flashback to Dreamer's memorial service. The wild flowers that the had laid on an alter for her. They like the families of those lost at Sentinel Services had no body to bury. There was no body at his Father funeral either. It made it harder somehow. knowing there really was nothing left of them. It mae the loss all the more intense. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for the families. Despite what Sentinel Services had represented for Mutants he wouldn't have wished that pain on even his worst enemy.

The next scene they showed was more chaotic. The Pentagon was a blaze. Smoke and flames were billowing from the building as fire engines rained jets of water down on the building, trying desperately to put the blaze out. Ambulances were gathered around, Paramedics had set up a triage nearby and were treating the wounded. As they watched one of the walls of the building crumbled under the heat of the flames and the weight of the water. Screams filled the air as civilians fled from the falling debris. Police officers were odering everyone to back up. John had seen enough burning buildings, damaged from explosives to know that the firefighters were fighting a losing battle. There was no saving the building, it was already lost as unimaginable as that seemed.

The final scene they showed was the White house which also seemed to be a strangely calm scene. There was a lot of police officers around. They had set up a perimeter around the entire building a safe distance away. Their guns were directed at the building as were their unblinking gazes. How long had they been there? John wondered, hours most likely. They like the rest of the world were waiting, all eyes trained on the building. Waiting for some stirring of life from within the building. The smoke that had encompassed the building earlier had disappated but there was no word of the occupants from inside the building or from the attackers. John couln't help but feel uneasy about the silence from the Inner Circle. As the screen continued to show the White House John noticed a flickering blue light through one of the windows. It grew brighter as time passed, before it seemed to move away from the window and disappear. John shook his head wondering if he had imagined the image. He wished he had imagined this whole thing. He remembered Lorna saying that the Inner Circle wanted to do something so monstrous it would change the world forever. Well no one could say that they didn't achieve that goal.

Hours passed wsith them all sitting in silence not knowing what else to do but stare and the screen and wait like everyone else in the city. Then there was movement at the door of the White House. He saw Marcos and Lorna sit up straighter on the sofa, The Struckers move closer to the tv. Suddenly everyones attention spiked all eyes were glued to the doorway. John saw the police officers around the perimeter tighten their grips on their guns, saw the tension in their shoulders. Reeva strolled out onto the steps, a Frost sister on each side of her. As they watched the sisters' eyes began to glow their trademark blue light. As one the police officers lowered their guns, took several steps back and turned their backs to the group all with a vacant look in their eyes.

"I'm Reeva and I am a Mutant freedom fighter." She called out across the lawn speaking to the cameras. "We have taken control. It is time for a new world. A world where Mutants will no longer suffer at the hands of Humans. We are a superior race and we will have the respect we deserve. Submit and no harm will come to you. However anyone who resists us will be killed." At her words the police officers picked up their guns and aimed them at each other. John looked away quickly but still heard the cracking of the guns firing. The thud of the bodies hitting the ground. Suddenly the screen cut out showing only coloured lines.

"This is bad, this is really, really bad." Marcos muttered under his breath while pulling Lorna under his arm and holding her to him tightly. No one answered him. No one knew how to, What can you possibly say at a time like this. John knew things were never going to be the same again and he couldn't help but put some of the blame onto himself. He couldn't help but think he should have done more, acted sooner, faster. He remembered his commanding officer once told him that there would be many times during his time as a soldier where he wouldn't be able to save everyone, that it was something he would need to find a way to work through and accept. Deep down John knew he was right but it was a hard pill for John to swallow, he felt useless.

He knew the others would look to him soon. Look to him to tell them what to do next, look to him to lead them. But he was at a loss. He had failed again. He just kept failing so what was the point. His disillusionment grew, wrapping around his heart and crushing it in its grip. But just when he was about to give up all hope more of his commander's words came to him._ Proudstar when something like this happens we have two choices. We can sink to our knees and give in to the horror, wallow in it, then pack our bags and go home, give up. Or we can struggle back to our feet and we can fight back harder because we know there's always another life out there somewhere that's worth saving. Which one are you going to do?_ Back then he had looked his commander straight in the eye and told him that he was soldier, he was going to fight, just like his father had before him. He was going to fight because giving up wasn't in his blood. So that was what John was going to do now he resolved. He was going to stand back up and he was going to fight to save as many people as he could, because he was a soldier still and because Proudstars don't give up.


	7. Chapter 7

** Author Notes: ****Okay so here is part 3 of the flashback chapters. Another trigger warning is necessary here there are more descriptions of fantasy violence there is also a major character death. Once again happy reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**The White House 2 Years and 3 Months Ago**

**Esme's POV**

The smell of smoke clung to everything, the beautiful architecture of the White House was marred by ugly black scorch marks. As she walked through the halls towards the meeting room she came across piles of ash scattered all through the building. She careful stapped around them, careful not to disturb them. She didn't need to be told what the dust was. She had been in that church, had seen what Selene could do. There were some rooms that, like the church, just had a blanket of dust covering the whole room as if it had snowed indoors. Of course the truth was much more horrifying. Esme tried her best not to look. She kept telling herself it was necessary, it was them or us. She repeated it over and over like a mantra. When she felt the guilt begin rising within her she'd push it down and remind herself that it didn't matter what she felt. There was no I there was only us. 3 in 1, a unit, her and her sisters. It was them or us. Just keep looking ahead, one foot then the other. Focus on the goal. A place for all mutants a place where she and her sisters would be safe.

Eventually she made it too the meeting room and took her seat next to her sister. Reeva and Selene were standing at the head of the long table, both were smiling. Selene looked like she was glowing, once again she looked younger, fresher and seemed to be radiating an aura of power. "We did it." Reeva stated simply. "Sentinel Services and the Pentagon are gone, the Humans have no defense against us. We now have complete control over Washington. We are so proud of each of you. All of you played a huge part in our success today. You all came together and did what had to be done. Believe us when we tell you that you will all be given the recognition and honour you deserve." Reeva praised them all. Looking around the table she saw the others all wearing looks of pride and excitement, they were all smiling back at Reeva and Selene. Esme however felt sick but she was suppose to be happy right? They had achieved the dream. Yes she was suppose to be smiling. Her sister was smiling. They were 3 in 1, there was no I only us, her sister was smiling so she should be too. So she let her lips curl up at the corners. There now they looked the same again. Her and her sisters.

Selene stepped forawrd arms spread out as if she were presenting the world to them. "Boys and Girls. Welcome to the Mutant Age."

**2 weeks Later**

Over the last couple weeks several swat teams were sent in to try and resecure the White House. Every raid had failed and with each one more lives were added to the death toll. The current toll was at 11,397 lost lifes. It was a bigger number than Esme had anticipated. But then she suppose she never really had considered how many people would be lost only that they would have to kill, that there would be collateral damage. So this was the cost of a Mutant Homeland? Was this what it was worth 11, 397 souls? Esme took comfort in the knowledge that after so many losses the Humans had pulled back and were no longer sending in teams for the slaughter. So it looked like the killing part was done.

As time wore on Esme began to see changes. The first thing Selene had organised was the clean up. They were going to be residing in the White House for a while so it needed to be fit for habitation. Most of the damage was in the lower levels where the device had been detonated. This areas the were the most damaged had been cordoned off for now. But slowly the evidence of the damage done was washed away and it became more bearable to walk the halls.

The other change was that mutants who were from other factions of the Inner Circle began to trickle into Washington and join them at the White House. The more people the came the more alive the place became and it began to feel more like a home. But still Esme couldn't help but wonder if this was it. Was this the Mutant Homeland? Were thye going to forever confined to this building out of fear that if they ever left it the Humans would cease it back?

Truth was that with each passing day Esme was feeling more and more detached, more and more trapped. Her and her sisters were still on constant Dagger guard duty. There was an admantium panic room in the lower levels where the Dagger had been placed. Esme always dreaded her turn. It was so tedious sitting there for 8 hours. Sometimes she'd take a book or some other activity with her but it was just so claustaphobic down there. Sophie was done there at the moment but it was almost Esme's turn. It was later in the evening so this shift was going to be particularly difficult as it was going to carry late into the night. First she had to go to a meeting with Reeva and Selene though, it was going to be a long night.

When Esme reached the office Reeva and Selene were standing together looking out the window across the front lawn. Phoebe was sitting in a chair facing them. They all turned at the sound of her approach. "Ah Esme there you are. Please come sit." Selene gestured to the chair next to Phoebe. Esme moved over to the chair and took a seat.

"You must be wondering why we've asked you here." Reeva began once everyone was seated. "Well we thought it was about time we filled you girls in on what the next part of our plan is."

"We've secured the Washington but we still have the problem of the humans still living here. We can't have a true Mutant Homeland when there are still Humans here." Selene continued.

Esme and Phoebe nodded in agreement. "So whats the plan for getting them to leave and then keeping them out?" Esme asked.

Her statement was met by light laughter from Selene and a smile from Reeva. "Oh my dear girl, our plan isn't to get them to leave." Esme felt a chill go through her at Selene's words. If they weren't going to force them out of Washington what were they going to do to them? "As you girls know I have the ability to absorb lifeforces." Selene reminded them.

"So the plan is to absorb all the lifeforces of all the humans left in Washington?" Phoebe asked sounding curious.

"Yes Phoebe, we will round all of the Humans up, gather them in one place and then I will absorb their lifeforces. It will make me so strong that no one will dare to challenge us and I will be unstoppable for anyone who does. I will become the Mutants ultimate protector." Selene explained. "We will also build a wall to keep any other Humans out and as an extra layer of security."

Esme felt her stomach sink. That was a lot of lives that would be lost, a lot more than 11,397. Swallowing down some bile she gathered her composure enough to ask. "Forgive me Selene but how will that work. I thought you could only absorb one lifeforce at a time. With the amount of Humans it will take forever to drain them all. Housing them will be difficult and we'd run the risk of them dying before you can drain them all. The wall will also take time to build. How are we going to keep them out in the meantime?"

Selene rested what was suppose to be a comforting hand on Esme's shoulder. "I understand your concerns Esme but let me reassure you. The wall I'm going to build will take no time at all trust me." She laughed at Esme's confused expression. "Don't you worry I'll explain it to you more when the time comes. As for draining the lifeforces well I have my ways." She teased lightly. "The dagger that you girls have been guarding for me. Well it gives me the power to drain the lifeforce of a large amount of people all at once. That's why its been so important to keep it safe."

Esme contemplated that for a moment. So there was more to the dagger than they were first told, it wasn't just a weapon that was dangerous to Selene it also gave her other abilities. "So when do we start?" Phoebe's voice cut into Esme's reverie.

This time it was Reeva who answered. "We are still waiting for a few more of our people to arrive but once we are all here we will proceed. So hopefully within the week. This is the last step girls. After this we will truly have a Mutant Homeland and there will be no one left with the power to take it away from us. Everything we've worked so hard for is finally here. I just need one more push for you. I can count on your help?"

"Of course." Both of them replied in unison. But Esme was still struggling to come to terms with it. She fought desperately to keep her face nuetral. She suddenly jumped when the sound an alarm began riging through the room. Everyone turned to look at her but it took her a few moments to realise that the sound was coming from her phone. "Oh I'm so sorry." Esme blushed well fumbling for her phone to turn the alarm off. "It's my ten minute reminder. I'm suppose to be taking over from Sophie." She explained sheepishly.

"Oh but of course. We won't keep you any longer. Thank you so much for all you've done so far Esme, we're both very impressed. Oh and could you be a dear and send Sophie to us so we can fill her in too." Reeva asked. Esme nodded her head and with a small wave made her way out the door eager to get away and drop the pretense, gather her thoguhts. She mindlessly made her way down to the panic room, not really paying attention to her surroundings. Once she reached the room she saw Sophie's relieved look at her arrival.

"Oh thank god you are here. I'm so bored." Sophie complained.

"Reeva and Selene want to see you." She let her know.

"Oh ok, is something wrong?" She asked possible picking up on Esme's unease.

Esme just shook her head picking up a book from the table where she had left it on her last shift. "They'll explain it all when you get up there." Esme answered trying to sound as relaxed and unaffected as possible. Things had been a little tense between her and Sophie since their conversation on the day of the attack and she didn't want to make it any worse. She could feel her sister's gaze on her and feel the light probing of her mind against Esme's. She just ignored it focussing instead on reading her book.

Eventually Sophie shrugged and said "Ok well happy dagger watching I guess." After a moments more hesitation Sophie turned and Esme was left alone in the metal box hundreds of feet below the earth. Esme let out the breath she had been holding and closed her book looking up instead at the dagger in its glass case. How could something that looked so unassuming be so powerful it could take thousands of lives all at once. So powerful that it could kill an immortal woman who was over 17000 years old. Shouldn't it look more special, be made of gold and have jewels?

As Esme stared at the dagger she began to process all the information she had just learnt. As claustrophobic as it was in the room at least while she was down here she didn't need to put on act. She didn't have to keep her emotions from showing on her face. She could feel her sisters on the edge of her mind. Thats where they always were when they weren't actively communicating through their linked minds. But even when they weren't communicating they were always still there. She could constantly feel their presence. Even whilst they were locked in Trask Industries she could hear and feel them. She couldn't remember a time when she couldn't feel them. For as long as she could remember that link had always existed between them. Right now they were too busy focussing on Reeva and Selene to pay much mind to her but she knew that they too could constantly feel the link between them.

She knew she had a decision to make, though a part of her wanted to just ignore it, to pick up her book and just read, lose herself in some fictional world and forget her troubles for a while. So that's what she tried to do. But she couldn't focus on the words on the page. Instead she just kept thinking of the 11,397 families that were trying to piece their lives back together, trying to carry on without the ones they loved. She couldn't help but remember what it had been like to lose Celeste and Mindee. The pain and grief. It literally felt like two parts of them had been ripped away. It was like losing two limbs. It had taken them a long time to even be able to get through a day without breaking down crying. Even now Esme had the scars left from their loss. That's what those families were going through right now. And Esme had helped cause their pain. She felt a wave of guilt slam into her.

Pushing the feeling away she shook her had. No they had to do it. It was them or us. It was unpleasant but they always knew this was the only way. Was it though? A traitorous voice echoed in her head. The Mutant Underground had another way. The voice spoke again. It was true the Mutant Underground believed they could live side by side with Humans, a world of co-existence. The dream of the X-Men they had called it. But they were naive right? That wasn't possible. But then she had seen it herself, hadn't she? When she was trying to infiltrate the Underground it had been a human priest that had hidden her and the rest of the group of Mutants. Then there was Caitlin who had treated her wounds and been kind to her, another human. During her time with them she had learnt of the humans who would put up safe houses for Mutants and hide them, of Humans who had donated food, clothes and medicine when they could. Then there was that clinic that had been attacked by the Purifers, all the staff there had been Human and yet they had risked their own safety to help Mutants in need. Esme couldn't help but wonder if their really could be a world where Humans and Mutants could live together peacefully.

The more she thought about it the more she realised she was strifing for a perfect world. But that was unacheiveable. If she stuck to her current path then she would have to willing participate in the deaths of thousands of Humans, maybe even the same Humans who had helped Mutants in the past. But even the Dream of the Xmen was flawed. Even if the majority of Humans and Mutants did get along there was always going to be some conflict, there was no such thing as a perfect world. But which unperfect world would she rather live in?

Shaking the thoughts from her head she sighed. What was she even thinking, she could never leave her sisters. They were a unit, 3 in 1, an us not an I. She reached out through the link again feeling her sisters there. They were both sleeping. Looking down at her watch Esme was surprised to see that it was 1am. Unfortunately that meant that she still had 5 hours left before she could leave. She looked back at the Dagger sitting innocently on its red velvet cushion. It was crazy to think that in about a weeks time it would take so many lives. Suddenly she was accosted with the image of the front lawn smothered in white dust. As the breeze blew little flurries of the dust drifted in the air. At the edge of the lawn sitting in the dust was a crying child clutching their teddy and calling for their mommy.

Esme abruptly stood up and paced back and forth trying to rid herself of the disturbing image. What was she suppose to do about it anyway, this wasn't her decision it was Selene's and Reeva's she was just following orders. You could steal the Dagger. The voice challenged her. She stared at the Dagger again for a moment. Mulling over the idea. No she couldn't, there were guards patrolling the halls at all hours she would be seen and get caught. Then Selene would kill her and her sisters, she resolved. Her inner voice pointed out.

The tunnels. The same tunnels they had used during the attack. It was true there wasn't anyone patrolling them. It was too close to here where the Dagger was for Selene to be comfortable with people wandering around down here. If she took the Dagger and left through the tunnels she wouldn't be seen by anyone. Afterall she had no need to go back up to the main level. She didn't need to get anything, what could she possibly own that was worth more than thousands of lifes?

But she would have to leave her sisters. Could she really do that? Would they punish them for Esme's actions? Doubt was driving her crazy. She had to make a choice. She stared once again at the Dagger. Clsoing her eyes she realised her truth. She couldn't go through with it. She couldn't let thousands more people die for this. She felt that link between herself and her sisters one last time. I'm sorry Taking a deep breath she did something she had never done before in all her life. She severed the link between the three of them. Cutting herself off from her sisters. Suddenly she was alone in her own head. It was a peculiar feeling. It was lonely yet at the same time it was kind of peaceful, quiet.

Acting quickly before she could change her mind she grabbed The Dagger and quickly made her way out of the room. The tunnel that lead out of the panic room was dimly lit and her footsteps seemed to echo painfully loud. Moving quicker Esme moved into the cordoned off section of the building entering the tunnel that lead down to the sewers. Once she reached the ladder that would take her down she tucked The Dagger into the inside pocket of her jacket to free her hands. She slowed a little as she went down the ladder. The metal was cold and wet beneath her hands. She tried to calm her pounding heart as she descended, fighting off her fear. But the moment her feet hit the floor of the sewer tunnel she took off running. She ran faster than she ever had before. She ran even when her breath was coming in short fast gasps, she ran even when her heart was pounding so fast she was sure it was going to jump right out of chest. She ran without even knowing where she was running to.

**John's POV**

Two weeks had past since the attack. The group had set up the scrap yard as their new living space. The remaining Morlocks who they weren't able to get up to St Petersburg had decided to try their luck back down in the tunnels and had ventured out on their own. A week and a half after the attacks the authorities announced that they weren't going to be sending anymore assault teams into the White House at this time due to the high volume of casualties they were sustaining. John couldn't say he blamed them.

The group had made the decision to stay hunkered down in the scrap yard only venturing out when they were desperate for supplies. Tensions between Mutants and Humans were worse than they had ever been before, it wasn't safe to be out on the street. So they stayed where they were and tried to figure out what they were going to do. They had spent the last two weeks trying to come up with some kind of plan to fight back against the Inner Circle but every plan they came up with was filled with issues and just wasn't doable. As more time went on the more John got more frustrated. The more useless he felt.

It was almost 2, oclock in the morning and John was laying on his makeshift bed staring at the ceiling. Zingo was laying next to him. She always stayed close to him. John sighed an turned to bury his face into Clarice's t-shirt that was draped across his pillow. Closing his eyes he let her scent wash over him and took in the image of her before him. She was laying next to him, fingers tracing circles on his chest as she giggled into her pillow her eyes dancing with mirth.

Suddenly John's peace was disrupted when he heard a noise from outside. He sat bolt upright, feeling suddenly tense he turned in the direction of the noise. Zingo also leapt to her feet barking loudly. This woke up the others in the room. "What's going on?" Andy muttered sleepily. Another sudden noise from outside caused everyone to leap from their beds suddenly wide awake and on alert. Marcos, Lorna, Reed, Andy and Lauren all raised their hands ready to use their abilities if need be. Caitlin reached for her gun, clicked off the saftey and aimed at the doorway.

Suddenly there was a sharp rapping as whoever was outside knocked on the door. They all turned to look at each other. Typically speaking your enemies didn't knock on the door. But who knew they were here? "Maybe it's one of the Morlocks?" Lauren whispered quietly.

"Yeah or its the police." Lorna suggested back. The rapping came again this time louder and more insistent. While remaining in a defensive position Lorna used her powers to unlock the door and pull it open slowly. The visitor crept forward slowly, they were difficult to make out in the darkness of the room.

"Hello?" Called out a female voice. Marcos let his hands light up soflty shining a beam of light onto the woman at the entrance. They turned their face away from the sudden light but it was unmistakeable that it was one of the Frost Sisters. Andy who was nearest to the light switch flicked it on flooding the room with light. "Whoah, don't shoot or whatever." She said quickly holding her hands up as she saw the threatening poses of the occupants in the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Marcos bit out agressively.

"Look I know you all have every right to be angry with me but this is bigger than that." She responded calmly. John took in her appearance. He could hear her heartbeat, it was pounding at a fast rate. She also seemed out of breath as if she had been running. Looking at her hands he could see that they were clammy. She looked terrified.

"Which one are you?" Reed demanded to know.

The Frost opened her mouth to respond but Lorna beat her to it. "Esme?" She asked softly. Esme nodded her head in confirmation lowering her hands a little.

"What are you doing here?" John asked firmly but gentler than Marcos. Esme looked up to meet his eyes.

"I can't do it, I can't let them do it, I had to warn you, so you can stop it." She rambled out quickly.

"Woah wait slow down a moment Esme, can't let them do what?" Lorna asked.

Esme took a few deep breaths. "Selene and Reeva aren't done yet they're planning on hurting more people. I kept telling myself that the Mutant lives we would be saving would make up for the lives we would take but this... this is too much." She paused a moment to swallow as everyone stared at her intensely. "I thought we were just going to drive the Humans out of Washington but that's not what Selene has planned for them."

"She's going to kill all of the Humans?" John asked. "By turning them to dust."

"It's more than that." Esme explained. "She doesn't just turn them to dust she absorbs their lifeforce. Each time she does it makes her more powerful, its also what keeps her young, she's actually 17000 years old and believed to be immortal."

Silence met her words as people processed the new piece information. "And this Selene is planning on absorbing the lifeforce of all the humans?" Caitlin clarified.

Esme nodded her head. "Yes within a week, she's planning on rounding them all up, she said it will make her so powerful that no one will be able to stop her."

John considered what Esme had said for a moment before speaking up. "But I thought that Selene needed to be in physical contact with her victim? If she wants to absorb the lifeforce from every human thats going to take her while."

Esme was shaking her head before John had even finished. "There's this dagger. Reeva and Selene has had me and my sisters guarding it all hours, one of us always had to be with it."

"That's why there's only been two of you everytime anyone has seen you lately." Lauren realised.

"Yes, Selene said she could use the dagger to absorb the lifeforce from many at once. But there's more. Reeva told us that it was really important that we kept the dagger safe because it was the only weapon in the universe that could truly kill Selene." For a moment a stunned silence claimed the room.

Then Marcos started laughing bitterly. Everyone turned to him surprised. "And let me guess, you've come to warn us about this dagger so we can go and try and steal it." He shook his head staring at Esme venomously. "Don't you guys see? It's a trap. She's making it up. She wants us to sneak into the White House and try and steal this fictional dagger. Let me guess your friends are all going to be waiting there ready to ambush us?"

All eyes were once again on Esme waiting for her response. But she didn't say a word instead she reached a shaky hand into her jacket and pulled out a dagger holding it up for them all to see. "I get why you don't trust me. I don't blame you, you have every reason to. I've decieved you before, You took me in and I used your kindness against you. I can only apologise for that and say that while there is no excuse I was desperate to save my family. But I need you to believe me now because I can't stop them by myself."

John stared at the dagger in her hands. Esme had stolen it. He looked up from the dagger and into her eyes. He could see the fear there and the sorrow. "Esme. Your sisters." He said softly half in disbelief.

Tears welled up in her eyes and spilt down her cheeks. "Its thousands of people John." She answered in a broken voice as tears streamed steadily down her face. John wasn't sure how he felt. Some small part of him knew that it was possible that she was still lying. Yet there was something about the look of despair in her eyes that made him believe her. There was also the knowledge that she had left her sisters behind. She had stolen the dagger and left her sisters behind knowing that it was highly possible that they would at best be punished for Esme's actions but much more likely killed for them. Esme slowly approached John then held out the dagger for him to take.

The dagger was smooth and cool to the touch. It looked like it was made out of bone or ivory. It didn't look particularly exceptional. It was just a plain old dagger. Yet something about it made John feel uneasy. It seemed to give off some kind of energy. He looked up from the dagger to look around the group. "We need to come up with a plan." He stated. He saw Esme let out a sigh of relief at his words. Marcos still looked unsure but at John's insistent look he reluctantly nodded his agreement.

"We should strike quickly too." Lorna chipped in. "The quicker we act the less time they'll have to prepare. The dagger gives us an advantage but there's still alot of powerful mutants in that building."

"True and more are arriving daily. But I can give you as much information as I can." Esme informed them.

The next several hours found them gathered around the coffee table drawing out plans and dicussing strategies. Esme was able to give them alot of useful information about the layout of the building and who was using which rooms, the schedule for the guard patrols and how many people were currently residing there and what powers they each had. They were still debating the best strategy when there was another unexpected knock on the door.

They all froze and fell quiet. "What the hell is going on here?" Lorna whispered in disbelief. "Are we having a 2 for 1 special I'm not aware of?" John shushed her leaning down to place his hand on the ground.

Reaching out with his senses he tried to get a picture of who was on the other side of the door. Once he did he let out an irritated groan. "Its the Inner Circle isn't it." Esme fretted in a fear filled voice. "They've come for me."

John shook his head to reassure her. "No it's Erg." He told them walking towards the door. He pulled it open. "Get in here quickly before someone sees you." He snapped irritably.

"It's nice to see you too Proudstar." Erg quipped back as he entered the room giving the occupants a quick scan.

"If you're looking for your people they left, As far as we know they headed back down into the tunnels." John informed him.

"That's only part of the reason why I came, I also came looking for you." Erg explained. "We heard about the attack on the news then got worried when we couldn't get hold of anyone here."

"Wait what do you mean you couldn't get hold of anyone?" Caitlin asked. "We've all still got our phones."

"There seems to be some kind of problem with communication going in and out of Washington. It's like a void. No one has been able to make calls in or out since the day after the attack." Erg answered. "So what the hell happened."

"The Inner Circle. They have control over the White House now. They also took out the Pentagon and Sentinel Services." Marcos summed up.

"This the same Inner Circle that sent the Purifiers after my people?" Erg spat out angrily.

"Yeah but we think we've got a way to stop them. There's a dagger that can kill their near immortal leader Selene." John replied.

"Good I want in. I want to help." He looked John right in the eye daring him to refuse. John sighed and nodded his head.

"Ok well we're currently trying to figure out the best way too..."Lorna began.

"Wait a sec." John said suddenly being struck with inspiration. "I think I might have a plan."

"We're all ears." Marcos encouraged.

"The Inner Circle doesn't know that Erg is here do they?" John directed his question to Esme.

"No the last intel we got on Erg and the Morlocks was that he had left."

John nodded a plan finally coming together in his mind. "Ok we can use that to our advantage. But first things first I think we need to draw Selene out into the open, onto the front lawn."

"Ok why the front lawn?" Andy asked.

"If she's out in the open, away from any walls or furniture that she can use as cover then we can attack her from mulitply angles giving us a better chance of success." John explained. "The other thing we need to do is find something around here that we can use to make a duplicate of the dagger."

"A duplicate?" Esme asked looking unsure.

"Yeah it doesn't have to be exact. It just has to look enough like it from a distance that Selene will think that I have it." John said. "So here's the plan. I'll have the duplicate dagger. Then everyone but Esme and Erg will launch a full on attack going in the front of the building. We need to make it look like we are throwing everything we've got at them and that we are trying to get me close enough to Selene to use the dagger. Most likely they will respond by coming out to meet us. Reeva will also likely use her powers on us. When that happens we're going to fake a retreat which should draw them further out onto the lawn in the pursuit of us.

"But how do you know they will continue to advance against us when we retreat?" Lauren cut in.

"Because Selene will want the dagger back. She can't carry out her plans without it and its the only thing that could end her life." Esme explained. John nodded along with her.

"While we attack them from the front Erg, who will have the real dagger, and Esme will enter the building through the tunnels, sneak up behind Selene and take her out."

"Well it could work but what about Reeva? We're all going to be pretty useless if she uses her powers on us." Lorna pointed out. "We need to find a way to take her out first."

John nodded then walked over to the nearby desk and pulled open the drawer. Finding what he needed he held it up for them all to see.

"My serum." Reed stated. "It'll stop her from being able to use her powers."

"We'll each carry a syringe, whoever get closest to her sticks her." He looked round the room as they all mulled it over. "Look guys I know there's a lot that could go wrong. But I think its the best we're gonna be able to do. We have to try." He encouraged them. He was rewarded by a series of nods. "Ok well then lets get to work."

A couple of hours later and they were ready. Caitlin had measured out a syringe of the serum for each of them. Marcos and John had found some pale wood and had carved a duplicate of the dagger. Erg now had the real dagger. John could feel the tension and determination in the air around them. "Ok here we go. Be careful ok." John cautioned them. The group said their goodbyes to Erg and Esme and they went their separate ways. John sent up a prayer to anyone who would listen, begging for it to go to plan this time. Then he climbed into the truck.

They parked a short distance away from the White House. John stared at his watch as the seconds ticked by. They had to time it right. Once enough time had passed that Erg and Esme should have also made it here John gestured to the rest of the group that it was time. Pulling the fake dagger from his jacket they advanced towards the White House.

It took no time at all for the Inner Circle to respond. They were obviously expecting them. They barely a third way across the front lawn when a flood of Mutants came running out to meet them. Selene and Reeva were among them but for the moment they had chosen to hung back, staying on the steps. John focussed in on the nearest agressor. He was a tall but skinny guy as he approached John he began to raise his hands, getting ready to use his ability, whatever it may be. John never gave him the chance to unleash it. Speeding up he leapt through the air and used the force of his jump to drive his fist into the guy's face. He dropped like a rock and did not get back up again.

Out the corner of his eye he saw another mutant form a fireball in their hands then hurl it towards Lauren. Lauren threw up a shield easily knocking the flaming missile away and Andy knocked the mutant to the side, John let out a sigh of relief. And focussed on his next target. One by one he brought the defenders down all while keeping his gaze locked on Selene up on the steps. He caught glimpses of his friends now and then. He saw Lorna fling something large and metal into the crowd of oncoming Mutants and saw them scatter. He saw Marcos send out a flash of bright light blinding those attempting to attack him, then stun another who tried to sneak up behind him. Reed used his powers to crumble the ground stopping the mutants running towards him in their tracks.

John tried not to get too distracted worrying about his friends and turned his full attention on getting across the lawn, on keeping the eyes of the Inner Circle on them. Reeva and Selene were still stationed on the steps looking out across the lawn taking in the whole scene. John was beginning to worry that they weren't going to move off the steps and further into the open. But just as he thought it Reeva made her way down the steps and made her way through the thinning crowd of mutants towards those of the Underground. As she took a deep breath in John steeled himself for the pain he knew was about to come.

But no amount of preparation could have fortified him enough for this pain. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. A blinding pain erupted in his head as he was hit by a wave of nausea. His vision began to blur as the pain intensified. It felt like something was splitting into his skull. He was brought down to his knees as he gripped his head. He was sure he was dying. He almost wanted to beg for it to stop but he had a job to do. So instead he grit his teeth and tried to push past the pain.

Reeva was continuing to advance towards them as she let out her high-pitched screech. But through his blurred vision John was pleased to see that Selene was now also moving down the steps. Just a little closer he urged as he managed to stumble to his feet and begun backing away, feigning a retreat as they had planned. He managed to get some distance before the pain became too unbearable and he was brought back down to his knees. Instinctively he curled in on himself, clutching at his head still, feeling the pressure build within his skull. He couldn't focus on anything but the pain but he tried to get his breathing under control and push past the pain.

Then he saw Caitlin. She was crouched low behind a bush a syringe in her hand. She too looked like she was in a world of pain, her other hand was gripping her head. But she had a determined look on her face. Looking back up at Reeva approaching he tried to focus on her through his blurred vision. It was then that he realised that Reeva was going to pass right by the bush Caitlin was hiding behind. _Come on Cait_ he silently urged her.

Closing his eyes again for a moment he let the pain wash over him, grinding his teeth harder he let out a groan of pain before forcing himself to open his eyes again and focus on the scene unfurling before him.

Reeva was now level with the bush. As John watched he saw Caitlin gather her resolve then push thorugh the pain and rise up from the ground with the last of her strength. In one fluid motion before Reeva had time to react Caitlin rammed the needle into Reeva's neck and injected her with the serum.

Within seconds the pain in his head ebbed away and he was left with only a niggling ache in the back of his head. He climb to his feet on trembling legs and quickly looked around to check on his friends. He was relieved to see them also beginning to climb to their feet. They looked a little unsteady but mostly ok. Reeva was on the floor next to the bush clutching at her neck and looking pale. She looked up at Caitlin and snarled reaching towards her neck. Caitlin's response to this threat was to quickly swing the hand holding her gun towards Reeva and pistol whipped her round the face. John heard the dull thud as the metal gun made contact with Reeva's temple and she collapsed unconcious to the ground. He turned his attention back to Selene.

She looked angry, like really angry she was walking faster towards them now a dark storm of hatred brewing in her eyes. Good John wanted her mad, he wanted her coming at them full force. If she was mad then her focus was going to be solely on them. John slowly raised the dagger up for her to see and sent her a challenging look. Selene give a slow smile like she was imagining all the ways she was going to inflict pain upon him and continued towards him menacingly.

**Esme's POV**

There was an uncomfortable silence between them as the walked through the dark, damp tunnels. The only sound was the echo of their footsteps and the dripping of water. She could see Erg sending her mistrusting looks every now and then but she tried her best just to ignore it. They were both here for the same reason. To stop the Inner Circle. They had a job to do and any other drama could wait. "We're nearly there." She informed him as they approached the ladder she had climbed down only hours previously. "This leads up into the lower levels."

Erg simply nodded and said. "Well then, lets get this done." Reaching out he gripped the ladder and swiftly made his way up with Esme following close behind. They stayed as silent as possible as they travelled through the building. As they got closer to the front entrance they could hear the sounds of the fight taking place out on the front lawn. Esme struggled with the temptation to reach out with her mind to her sisters. She wanted so desperately to make sure they were ok. Yet she knew that would be a big mistake and that it would jeopardise the entire mission so she pushed the desire away and focussed on the task at hand.

As they went Esme used her powers to make anyone who saw them think that they never had and before long they had made it too the front entrance. Peeking round the door they took in the picture before them. Caitlin and Reeva were closet to them. Reeva looked to be unconcious and was laying motionless while Caitlin she knelt not far from her and was firing random shots across the lawn as a distraction. John was at the centre of the lawn glaring down Selene who was approaching him throwing people put of her way as she went. So it seemed like John's plan of getting Selene's attention onto him was working.

Off to the left of where John was the Strucker siblings were holding off Tico and Heather. Lauren was blocking any objects Heather was teleporting towards them with her shields inbetween throwing her spinning disks towards them and Andy kept throwing them off them feet or was destroying the objects before they even reached Lauren. Slightly further back from them Marcos and Lorna were also working together. As Lorna was propelling things towards their foes Marcos was heating them so that hot missiles were falling from the sky and skidding across the ground. When Esme located Reed though she could see that he was struggling. Both his arms were bright red and the ground all around him was covered in long fissures that were still steaming. Luckily for him it seemed that everyone was afraid of his powers and was actively avoiding him. He was slowly making his way across the lawn towards his wife.

Esme looked over to Erg to confirm that he was ready. He nodded his head in reply and pulled out the dagger keeping a tight grip on it. Together they moved down the steps and began to make their way across the lawn. Whenever anyone from the Inner Circle's forces saw them Esme would simple use her powers on them making her and Erg virtually invisible. As they neared Cailtin Erg gestured at her then her gun trying to convey a message. Caitlin must of understood because she nodded her head than aimed the gun at Erg firing several rounds at him. It was definitely a strange sight to see someone deliberately shooting their own comrade. But Esme saw Erg absorb the impact from each of the bullets and realised his goal. He was getting himself powered up.

They were only a few feet away from Selene now, she continued to keep her focus on John and so was completely unaware of Esme and Erg stalking towards her. Selene waved her hand in an upward motion from the ground and rocks began to rise. They floated there for a moment before Selene pushed her hand out towards John propelling the rocks through the air towards him. John simple turned slightly to protect his face and let the rocks bounce off his enhanced skin. He caught one and then with all his strength hurled it back towards Selene. She simply formed a shield around herself and the rock fell back to the ground.

Esme was surprised, it seemed as though Selene had a wider range of abilities than they knew. She tried to brush away the feeling of impending doom and refocus on the task at hand. They were close enough now. Esme looked over to Erg and saw him tighten his grip on the dagger. He shot a look towards Esme who gave him an encouraging nod.

Selene's attention was still transfixed on John as she continued to attempt to reach him. Erg saw his chance and took it. Leaping forward he raised the dagger and drove it down towards Selene's back.

She turned at the last moment. One hand gripped Erg's wrist stopping the dagger in its tracks and the other gripped his throat. Esme was frozen to the spot and watched in horror as a blue glow formed at Erg's throat and began pulsing down Selene's arm. As he grew weaker Erg's grip on the dagger failed and it fell to the ground.

Without even thinking Esme grabbed a large rock from the ground and swang it towards Selene with all her might. As she did she kicked the dagger in John's general direction. Her actions had the desired effect and Selene let go of Erg in order to throw up a shield to ward off Esme's attack. Esme felt the impact of the rock hitting the shield ricochet up her arm. A second later Selene backhanded her across her cheek while screaming "TRAITOR!"

Unfortunatley for Esme the force of the hit caused the rock to slip from her grip and hit the ground before she did. But when she did hit the ground her head collided with her rock. She felt blinding pain and the sticky, warm wetness of blood as stars and coloured spots danced before her eyes. Then a darkness encrouching from the corners of her vision until it consumes her and she became lost to a blissful oblivion.

**John's POV**

As John watched it all fell apart. Somehow Selene had anticipated Erg's attack and had caught him in her grip and began to drain his lifeforce. Esme had managed to stop Selene with her own attack but Selene fended that off and had injured Esme who was laying unconcious as blood seeped from a wound on her head. Erg too was on the floor and had made no move to rise.

Esme had kicked the dagger towards John before her injury and now it lay an equal distance between him and Selene. Without hesitation John threw himself towards the dagger and had almost reached him when a blast hit him in the chest a blew him back several feet. He groaned and clutched at his chest as the familiar pain raidiated out from the center of his chest. John tried to gather his bearings, what the hell had just happened why had Erg just attacked him?

John saw the dagger raise from the ground and once again propelled himself towards it. Once again though Erg directed an energy blast at him and John had to throw himself to the side to avoid being hit again. Looking up again he saw that the dagger had almost reached Selene's outstretched hand.

But then one of Lauren's disks slammed into it throwing it away from Selene who turned towards Lauren angrily before looking over to Erg. Erg turned towards Lauren and sent a blast her way. Lauren threw up a sheild but it wasn't enough to stop the full force of the blast and Lauren was thrown back and crashed into the wall of the fountain with a crunch. She gasped in pain and gripped her left arm which now looked like it was broken. "Erg what the hell are you doing!?" John yelled at him. But when Erg turned his vacant stare towards him John realised the truth. Erg wasn't in control of himself, somehow Selene was the one with the control.

Looking around John tried to locate where the dagger had gone. Finally he saw that it had landed near Caitlin who had crawled toward it and now had it in her grasp. Unfortunately Selene had also seen it and she sped towards Caitlin with superhuman speed. Another ability they did not know she had. She reached towards Caitlin's neck and was just about to grasp it when she was thrown across the lawn by Andy who had come to his mother's defense. As Andy helped his mother to her feet John quickly looked around and realised they were fighting a losing battle. Esme was badly hurt and there was blood now trickling from her wound at a much faster rate. She needed medical attention and soon. Lauren too was now too hurt to fight and was a sitting duck open to attack. Erg was no longer in control of himself and was completely under Selene's spell and looking over at Reed John could see that he was struggling to get his powers under control. If they didn't get out of here now they were going to die. Selene was too strong. They needed to regroup.

"Go! Go! Get back to the car!" John yelled to his friends as he raced towards Esme. Reaching her he took her arm and dragged her body over his shoulder lifting her easily. He looked over to Marcos and caught his eye and gestured towards Lauren. Marcos nodded his understanding and he and Lorna made their way towards her. John turned and headed back in the direction of the car. However leaving was going to be a lot harder than they'd like. Selene was back on her feet and her minions were in pursuit on of them including Erg who continuing to send random blasts at them.

John focussed on putting one foot in front of the other and being careful not to stumble over any rocks in case he injured Esme further. He could see Andy and Caitlin just ahead of him. The car came into sight and John felt relief flood through him. Then he saw Andy stop and stare in horror at something behind him. "DAD!" Andy yelled starting back towards the White House.

John turned to see that Marcos and Lorna had Lauren between them but were struggling. They were surrounded with no clear path through and Selene was advancing on them. Upon seeing this Reed had obviously turned back around and was now heading towards Selene. What worried John even more was that Reed's powers weren't just emanating from his arms any more but had spread across his chest, up his neck and was beginning to appear on his face.

"Andy, Caitlin!" John called getting their attention. "Take Esme." He instructed. Carefully John transferred Esme's weight to them, each of them pulling one of her arms around each of their shoulders. "Get her to the car ok." John didn't wait for their reply before he turned back and headed towards the others. He was not leaving them behind. When he reached the nearest one of Selene's lackeys John grabbed him in a headlock and pushed down on the pressure point. John let him fall to the ground once he had lost conciousness. He ducked the punch from the next one grabbed their arm and flung them away. He continued carving a path through to Lauren, and Marcos and Lorna. Selene's attention was now on Reed as he approached her, his power only growing. Having reached them John instructed them towards the car. "Get to the car as quickly as you can ok. I'm going to get Reed." John explained. Marcos nodded and the three of them continued their slow pace Lauren audibly gasping in pain. "Reed!" John called out to him. "Reed come on it's time to go."

Reed turned to look at him a strange emotion in his eyes that John couldn't place. "They'll only follow us and we'll never get away." Reed called back giving John an uneasy feeling. John knew what Reed was getting at. That even if they made it to the car Selene would just send her people after them to chase them down. There were enough of them that it would be impossible to shake all of them off. But they had to try, what other choice did they have? "Get my family away John, get them safe. Take care of them for me." Reed called over to him again. Then he turned around and continued on his path towards Selene.

"No Reed wait! Come back!" John called after him desperately chasing after him.

"REED!" John heard Caitlin's distraught scream and turned to see her running back onto the lawn towards her husband. Standing between the two of them, looking from one to the other John knew he had a difficult choice to make. One or the other. Letting his instincts take over John made a split decision and ran full pelt towards Caitlin just as Andy also began to follow his Mother. Marcos grabbed Andy's arm and tried to pull him back towards the car but it was a struggle as he and Lorna were still supporting Lauren who was now also struggling to break free from them.

Reaching Caitlin John grabbed her by the waist and started pulling towards the car and away from her husband pleading with her the whole time. She continued to fight and struggle against him as she screamed after Reed. She didn't stop fighting him pushing and hitting at him trying everything to get free and get to her husband. Each of her blows though ineffective against his mutation felt like a stab to his heart. Each scream, each plea tore through him. Then she started to cry, sobbing his name over and over as John continued to pull her towards the car, towards safety. But Caitlin didn't want to be safe, she wanted to save Reed. The closer they got to the car the more she begged him. John tried to tune it, to harden his heart to it, but hearing her pain was killing him. It was killing him to have to pull her away from the man that she loved. He knew just how she felt, it was the way he had felt when Marcos had dragged him from that alleyway where he has seen Clarice get shot.

After much struggling John had finally gotten Caitlin to the car but she was continuing to fight against him. Marcos and Lorna had somehow managed to get distressed Any and Lauren into the car and they were now coming forward to help John with Caitlin. Between the three of them they were able to get Caitlin into the car and lock the doors to stop her from getting out. As Marcos and Lorna moved towards the front seats they turned back towards John. "Go, I'll meet you back at the scrap yard." He told them. "I have to try." He explained at their baffled looks. Looking solemn they nodded their heads and climbed into the car driving away quickly.

John raced back towards Reed and as he came into view of the front lawn a blinding red light illuminated the building and danced across the grass. Reed had unleashed his power and it exploded from him vaporising those hwo were standing nearest to him. Others ran from the light and took cover. John glimpsed Erg throwing himself through the doors into the White House. Selene who was standing in front of Reed had formed a shield around herself but seemed to be struggling to hold it. Eventually it slipped and John saw that her skin was beginning to flake away and as she screamed out in pain.

John continued to make his way towards Reed wanting desperately to save him. But then Selene reached out and grabbed Reed by the neck. The red light began to turn purple as the two powers fought against each other. But then the light began to grow bluer and bluer until there wasn't a speck of red left. Then John could do nothing but watch as Reed Strucker crumbled to dust.

* * *

**Author Notes: Ok so that is the last fully flashback chapter we are going to have for now. Obviously we still have some more to learn so there will be more flashbacks but these will be smaller and will be part of chapters set in the characters present time. Obviously the last few chapters have been really heavy so we will be getting some thunderblink fluffiness in the next chapter. I'm not going to make promises on when the next chapter will go up but I will try to make it as soon as possible. As always let me know what you think and take care of yourselfs. Until next time guys.**


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